Renato Zanelli

Like many of the great Otellos (including Ramon Vinay and Plácido Domingo), Zanelli started his career as a baritone and developed into a tenor during the early years of his career. Throughout his career, he retained a richness of timbre that served him well in dramatic roles, and the secure bottom notes that helped make him "the new Tamagno," particularly as Otello. His acting was as acclaimed as his singing, and he had a particularly commanding stage presence, well-suited for heroic roles. He studied privately with Angelo Querenz and made his opera debut in Santiago as Valen...