Mario Sereni

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Mario Sereni (25 March 1928 – 24 July 2015) was an Italian baritone who sang leading roles at the New York Metropolitan Opera for many years.

He was born in Perugia, Italy. He studied at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, where his teacher was Mario Basiola. His professional career began in 1953 at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and he made his Met debut on 9 November 1957 as Gérard in Andrea Chénier.

Sereni spent 27 seasons at the Met, performing many important Italian roles in operas such as Ernani, Luisa Miller, Il trovatore, La traviata, Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlo and Aida. He also appeared in La Gioconda, Cavalleria rusticana, Manon Lescaut, La bohème, Madama Butterfly, L’elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor. Outside New York, he regularly sang in Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas, and he had an international career at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

While he was sometimes overshadowed by flashier baritones, Sereni’s recordings show a musician with a handsome voice, solid technique and good style. He sang Germont in two famous La traviata performances: the 1958 Lisbon production with Maria Callas and Alfredo Kraus (the “Lisbon Traviata”) and the 1964 La Scala production with Anna Moffo and Renato Cioni (the “Karajan Traviata”).

Mario Sereni retired in 1986 and died in Perugia in 2015.