Luigi Montesanto
Birthplace: Palermo, Kingdom of Italy
An Italian baritone who created Michele in Il tabarro. He studied at Palermo with Nino Santoro and made his debut in Carmen in 1909 as Escamillo, reaching La Scala in the same opera three seasons later. He sang in Buenos Aires from 1910, taking Jochanaan in the first Salome there, and sang Rossini's Figaro in the opening season of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris in 1913. After the Metropolitan Opera premiere of 1918 he sang in Chicago and, until 1940, at the leading Italian houses. He taught in Milan, where Giuseppe di Stefano was his pupil.
Creations
- Michele — Il tabarro (New York, 1918)
Written from
- Cummings, D. (1992) 'Montesanto, Luigi', in Sadie, S. (ed.) The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Reference, vol. 3, p. 445.
- Wikipedia (2026) Luigi Montesanto. (Accessed: 20 September 2026).