Emilio Venturini

An Italian tenor who became one of La Scala's great comprimarios. Born in Brescia, he began in lyric roles, and in 1901 sang Brighella in the Turin performance of Mascagni's Le maschere, one of six premieres of the opera that night. He created Ivan in Giordano's Siberia in 1903 and Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly in 1904, then spent eleven years in the United States, mostly in Chicago. Back at La Scala in the 1920s he sang in the premieres of Boito's Nerone and of Turandot, creating Pang, which he was still singing at Parma in 1945.