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The American bass-baritone, Leonardo (Lee) Wolovsky [Wolowsky], studied at Oberlin College in Ohio and began in te late 1940’s a career as a concert singer in homelamd.
Around 1950 Leonardo Wolovsky came to Europe, where he performed, inter alia, in 1952 at the Theatre of Catania, together with Maria Callas in Bellini's Norma. He then moved his activity to West Germany. Here he was engaged from 1953 to 1957 at the Staatstheater of Wiesbaden. From 1957 to 1973 he was a member of the ensemble of the Opera House of Nürnberg. Guest engagements took him to the Opera House of Frankfurt a.M. (1959-1973), at the Bayerischen Staatsoper München (1961-1969, appeard as Wotan, etc.) and at the Staatstheater of Hannover (1961-1973 and even later). At the Frankfurt Opera, he appeared in 1962 in the premiere of the opera Alkestiade by Louise Talma, and in 1967 he participated in the premiere of the opera Die Doppelgängerin by J. Meyerowitz. In 1956-1960 he was a guest at the Staatsoper of Hamburg, in 1958 at the Opera House of Essen, in 1960 at the Opera Houses in Graz and in Düsseldorf (as Nabucco by Verdi). More guest performances were in Amsterdam and Zürich, Paris, Barcelona and Athens.
In 1976 Leonardo Wolovsky retired from the stage. However, he came again in 1984 at La Scala, singing the Speaker in Zauberflöte. In 1988 he could still be heard at the Stadttheater of Bielefeld as Simon Mago in Nerone by Arrigo Boito, and in 1994 at the Stadttheater of Trier as Sir Archie in the modern opera Winterballade by J. Meyerowitz. His major stage roles were Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Oroveso in Norma, King Philip in Verdi's Don Carlos, the title role in Nabucco, Dutchman in Die Fliegende Holländer, Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger, the Wanderer in Siegfried and Boris Godunov in the opera of the same name by Mussorgsky. Other Other stage roles he was also were Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande, and both Monterone and Sparafucile in Rigoletto. In addition to his stage career, he developed a second career with similar successes in the areas of concert and oratorio singing.
Leonardo Wolovsky sang in numerous recordings on MMS label, including complete recordings of the operas Aida, Lohengrin, the 9th Symphony of L.v. Beethoven, Verdi's Requiem and Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248) by J.S. Bach. On Eurodisc he appeared in a selection from Fidelio. |
