| Rina Gigli the daughter of Beniamino Gigli |
| The daughter of Beniamino Gigli, Rina was born in Naples on 31st of January 1916. She studied playing piano and accompanied her father among others in the Carnegie Hall in the middle of Twenties. But the singing won finally. She sang for the first time in public, 7th of February 1936, in the Roman Grand Hotel, but her official debút happened on 23rd of May 1943 in the ReggioTheatre of Parma prepared by the celebrated soprano Rosina Storchio in the title role of La Traviata and with her father Beniamino as Alfredo. The success was superb. After that she sang in the great opera houses in different parts of the world: The Roman Opera, The Colón Theatre of Buenos Aires, La Scala of Milan, The Massimo of Palermo and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden of London, in the Opera of Madrid and many other theatres. She sang in the Arena di Verona in 1950 and Mimì inLa Bohéme with Giuseppe Di Stefano. She has given concerts in many countries among these: Germany, Brazil, Japan, South Korea. She got a magnificent succes in Antwerp in 1954 as Violetta in Traviata with the tenor Gianni Raimondi. She continued her career until 1971, when she gave her farewell to the stage as Nedda in Pagliacci in San Carlo of Naples. The repertoire of Rina consisted of 35 roles and the career as a singer lasted exactly 35 years. She was a personal friend of the Italian tenor and his family Michelangelo Verso, if you visit his website you will see much more on Rina and Beniamino Gigli. You can find the web address on my links page. Sadly Michelangelo Verso died 2006 and is survived by by son Michael.It is now the end of a Gret Operatic era. |
| The most important roles were: MimÃ, Manon (Massenet), Nedda, Adina, Desdemona. The voice of Rina Gigli can be heard in some studio recordings with her father, where she sings the operatic duetts (Otello, Amico Fritz, Elisird'amore, Mefistofele). The complete live records of Amico Fritz (1951) and Elisird'amore (1953) in San Carlo of Naples, where she sings with father Beniamino have been published. Rina Gigli received in 1988 the Cross of the Merit of the Italian Republic and in the following year the artist's pension of the Italian State. Rina Gigli sadly died in "Ester Gigli Rest Home" in Recanati August 22 2000 |
| copyright leighton jenkins 2000/updated 2007 |
| Leighton Jenkins Presents WELCOME TO MY WORLD My tribute to Rina Gigli |
