right|thumb|220px|ezio pinza. ezio pinza (may 18, 1892may 9, 1957) was an italian opera singer. a bass with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice, he spent 22 seasons at new york's metropolitan opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas. pinza also sang to great acclaim at la scala, milan, and at the royal opera house, covent garden, london. after retiring from the met in 1948, pinza enjoyed a fresh career on broadway in the musical theatre and also appeared in several hollywood films. ==biography== pinza was born in modest circumstances in rome in 1892 and grew up on italy's east coast, in the ancient city of ravenna. he studied singing at bologna's conservatorio martini, making his operatic debut in 1914, as oroveso in norma at cremona.  pinza was a devotee of bicycle racing. he also undertook four years of military service during world war i, prior to resuming his operatic career in rome in 1919. he was then invited to sing at italy's foremost opera house, la scala, milan, making his debut there in february 1922. at la scala, under the direction of the brilliant and exacting principal conductor arturo toscanini, pinza's career blossomed during the course of the next few seasons. he became a popular favourite of critics and audiences due to the high quality of his singing and the attractiveness of his stage presence. pinza's metropolitan opera debut occurred in november 1926 in spontini's la vestale, with famed american soprano rosa ponselle in the title role. in 1929, he sang don giovanni, a role with which he was subsequently to become closely identified. he subsequently added the mozart roles figaro (in 1940) and sarastro (in 1942) to his repertoire, a vast number of italian operatic roles of bellini, donizetti, and verdi, and mussorgsky's boris godunov (sung in italian). apart from the met, pinza appeared at the royal opera house, covent garden, in 1930-1939, and was invited to sing at the salzburg festival in 1934-1937 by the celebrated german conductor bruno walter. pinza sang once again under the baton of toscanini in 1935, this time with the new york philharmonic orchestra, as the bass soloist in performances of beethoven's missa solemnis. one of these performances was broadcast by cbs and preserved on transcription discs; this recording has been i
1892_births 1957_deaths American_male_singers Deaths_from_stroke Donaldson_Award_winners Italian_emigrants_to_the_United_States Italian_male_musical_theatre_actors Italian_male_singers Italian_male_television_actors Italian_military_personnel_of_World_War_I Italian_opera_singers Male_actors_from_Rome Operatic_basses RCA_Victor_artists Tony_Award_winners