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Francisco Araiza
Tenor
Born: October 4, 1950, Mexico City, Mexico
Site Reviews: 9
My Favorite Role: Don Ramiro (Rossini, La Cenerentola)
My all-time favorite tenor. Period. His recordings span a period of almost 20 years and his voice hasn't thinned or weakened at all as he grew older. Actually, he took pretty good care of it, so as his voice matured he was able to go for some tougher roles. He's even done some Wagner onstage, though not on a recording. He was named Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera in 1988.
I personally think Araiza's strength is the Mozart and Rossini repertoire, although he can do almost anything well. Listen to his Ferrando or his Almaviva and you're in for a treat. One of my most prized possessions his (sadly out-of-print) recording of Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin, which I like even better than the Fischer-Dieskau recording that is considered the standard.
He's well-represented on video. In fact, I first fell in love with him after seeing his Don Ottavio in the La Scala Don Giovanni - which is, in retrospect, probably his worst appearance on video (though I haven't yet seen them all). Unless you factor in the utterly ridiculous wig he wears as the Singer in the 1979 Der Rosenkavalier. But that tells you something, right? If I enjoyed his worst (a better word would probably be "least good,"), his best is really phenominal. I reccomend his Belmonte under Böhm (opposite Edita Gruberova's really awesome Constanze) and his Tamino under Levine.
Don Ramiro is my favorite Araiza role, partly because he nails the role from a vocal standpoint, but also because he interprets it beautifully, particularly in the 1981 Ponnelle Film. Track it down if you can. (With a cast including Frederica von Stade, Paolo Montarsolo, and Claudio Desderi, it's criminial that this is so damned hard to find. Anyone who has a NTSC copy they don't want should sell it to me!)
I bought his solo CD on a whim, and while it's not exactly my favorite CD, it is a great collection of passionate, romantic songs (hence the title, The Romantic Tenor), including "Maria" from West Side Story with a VERY CUTE ACCENT! I highly reccomend it as the kind of CD you put on for background music while you do something else, like organize a room or do a puzzle.
Most of the videos I own feature Araiza in a principal role. My family hasn't noticed yet that all the tenors in the movies look and sound the same. :-D
Bonus: He's now over fifty and still has his cute smile.
Site Reviews:
Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Almaviva)
La Cenerentola (Don Ramiro) (VIDEO)
La Cenerentola (Don Ramiro) (VIDEO)
Così fan tutte (Ferrando)
Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio)
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Belmonte) (VIDEO)
Die Zauberflöte (Tamino) (VIDEO)
Die Zauberflöte (Tamino)
Die Zauberflöte (Tamino) (VIDEO)
*image source: http://www.nd-mb.si/nd/mf00_01.htm
