Rolando Panerai was a prolific Italian baritone renowned for his well-toned, vibrant voice, his versatile acting and clear diction. He studied in Florence, where he was born, and then in Milan, and made his operatic debut in Florence in 1946 as Enrico Ashton in Donizetti's 'Lucia di Lammermoor'. He was still performing 65 years later having built up a repertoire of more than 150 roles, mainly from Italian operas.
In 1947, he made his debut in Naples at the San Carlo theatre, singing the part of Pharaoh in Rossini's 'Mosé in Egitto'. He went on to perform in several other operas in Naples, including the Count of Luna in Verdi's 'Il Trovatore', Germont in Verdi's 'La Traviata' and Figaro in Rossini's 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia'. In 1957, he made his debut at La Scala as the High Priest in Saint-Saëns' 'Samson et Dalila', which was the first of many performances there over a period of 25 years. This included the Italian premiere of Hindemith's 'Mathis der Maler' in 1957.
In 1955, Panerai created the role of Ruprecht for the stage premiere of Prokofiev's 'Ognenniy Angel' in Venice and sang Figaro in Mozart's 'Le Nozze di Figaro' in Aix-en Provence. He made his Austrian debut at the Salzburg Festival in 1957 in one of the roles for which he became the most renowned - Ford in Verdi's 'Falstaff'. He returned to the Festival often in a variety of other roles, including Guglielmo in Mozart's 'Cosi Fan Tutte' (1958) and Malatesta in Donizetti's 'Don Pasquale' (1971). He sang all over Italy and in many places worldwide including Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Munich, Paris, Johanessburg and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He made his debut at Covent Garden in London in 1960, reprising the role of Figaro in 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia'. In 1996, he made his debut at Chicago Opera House in the title role of Puccini's 'Gianni Schicchi'. He reprised this role several times, including in 2011, aged 87, in Genoa.
Panerai spent the last years of his life teaching, leading masterclasses and directing operas, including Puccini's 'La Bohème', Donizetti's 'Il Campanello della Speziale' and Verdi's 'Rigoletto'. The final opera which he directed in 2018 was Puccini's 'Gianni Schicchi'. He died at the age of 95 in 2019.
