Boris Carmeli (23 April 1928 – 31 July 2009) was a Polish operatic basso profondo known for his "fervent rich hued tones"[2] and extensive repertory of more than 70 operas and 60 oratorios.[3] During his long career, he appeared regularly at La Scala in Milan and other major opera houses internationally. In addition to the classical bass repertoire, he performed contemporary music including major works by Krzysztof Penderecki[4] and Karlheinz Stockhausen.[5] He appeared at international music festivals, on Italian television, and in many opera films.[3]
Early life
Carmeli was born Norbert Wolfinger to Hermann and Rachel Wolfinger in Obertyn, Poland, in 1928. His older brother Pinkas (later Peter Carmeli) was born in 1921. Believing that Germany had an economic future, the family emigrated to Magdeburg in 1932. Hermann moved first and found work in the textile business. His wife and sons joined him later.[6]
From January 1933, under the Nazi regime, the Jewish Wolfinger family faced difficulties. Growing anti-Semitism in the country even affected five-year-old Boris (Norbert), who as the only Jew in his class was subject to bigotry. The pogrom of Kristallnacht in 1938 made clear that the family was not safe in Germany. Converting their assets into jewelry, which Rachel sewed into their clothing, they fled to Brussels, Belgium.[6]
In 1940, the German Army attacked Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Once again, the family escaped, taking flight to France, then Italy, where they lived in a series of increasingly remote mountain villages. Roundups of Jews in the region began in September 1943. Suffering from an earache, Carmeli, then 15 years of age, descended into the town of Valdieri during daylight hours in search of medicine. Leaving the pharmacy, he was arrested by Italian fascist militiamen, who delivered him to the Germans. On 7 December 1943, he was transferred from the Borgo San Dalmazzo concentration camp to Auschwitz concentration camp. Of the 1,000 Jews on convoy 64, he would be one of 50 survivors.[6]
Following World War II, Carmeli, pretending to be French, was repatriated to Paris. By chance, he met a cousin there and with her help was able to rejoin his parents and brother. They had survived the war by hiding in Rome; his mother and father were living there still.[7] His brother had relocated to Tel Aviv. The whole family ultimately reunited in Israel. Carmeli worked in a music shop, learned Hebrew and began piano and singing lessons.[6][8] Opera had been his professed passion since early childhood, though he reportedly was disappointed to learn he was a bass and not a tenor.[7]
In 1950, he received two offers for study abroad. Mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel, for whom he had auditioned, invited him to New York. The second offer, won in a competition among 300 Israeli singers, was an opportunity to study in Milan. He chose the Italian option and set off with $400 from his father. The money was to last him a year, but a year was not long enough to establish an opera career.[6]
With the help of Astorre Mayer, paper mill owner and the honorary Israeli consul in Milan, Carmeli was able to extend his studies. Mayer hired the young singer to work part-time as his secretary at the consulate.[6]
Carmeli studied bel canto with Ubaldo Carrozzo and Giovanni Binetti in Milan, then at the Conservatorio Rossini in Pesaro, and finally with Maria Cascioli in Rome.[1][8]
Career
Carmeli made his professional debut in 1956 at a music festival in Bologna's Arena Faenza. He performed the role of the philosopher Colline in Puccini's La bohème.[8] Impressed, leading Italian opera conductor Tullio Serafin brought the singer to La Scala in Milan.[3]
In 1997, Carmeli premiered the narrator role in Penderecki's Seventh Symphony "Seven Gates of Jerusalem", commissioned to commemorate the city's third millennium. Penderecki, with whom Carmeli had a close friendship and working relationship, wrote the part for him in Hebrew based on Chapter 37 of the Book of Ezekiel.[4] Until his death in 2009, Carmeli took part in almost every listed production of the work. He also appears in numerous recordings of the piece.[3][11][12]Naxos Records' 2007 version was nominated for a Grammy Award.[3] He was scheduled to reprise the part in Poland in August 2009, but died shortly before the event.[9] A critic reviewing the WERGO recording, the first of Penderecki's original version,[11] wrote, "The importance of Boris Carmeli's contribution to this work can't be over-emphasized: the basso's speaking voice is eerie and quite unique... In both the CD and DVD recordings... he makes an incredible, unforgettable impression."[13]
He sang on Italian television and starred in a number of opera films, including Puccini's Turandot with Birgit Nilsson from La Scala, The Life of Puccini, and Rossini's La scala di seta. Carmeli also provided the singing voice for the character Ilya Ziloev in Fellini's 1983 film And the Ship Sails On.[14] At roughly the same time, he sang for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.[3] Carmeli continued concert appearances until the early 1990s.[8]
Discography
Boris Carmeli appears on the following recordings:[1][3][15][16]
Zeitgenössische Musik in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 10 (1970–1980)
Personal life
Carmeli lived in Italy for most of his post-war life. In 1961, on a trip to perform at the San Francisco Opera, he met and married Sonja Moser, a Swiss woman working in the fashion industry. Unlike many Holocaust survivors, he never revisited the sites of the horrors of his youth.[6]
^"Review, Classical Music, Star Bars". Texas Monthly: 116. March 1978.
^ abcdefghZuccotti, Susan (3 December 2007). Holocaust Odysseys: The Jews of Saint-Martin-Vesubie and Their Flight through France and Italy (Kindle ed.). Yale University Press. ISBN978-0300122947.
