Alain Vanzo (ARTISTES LYRIQUES)
7 Rue du Cher, 75020 Paris, France

One of the most famous French opera singers Alain Vanzo started his musical journey by establishing his own small variety orchestra in Aix-les-Bains, before joining the gypsy orchestra Les Vinitzky in 1950. Performing in brasseries, balls, cabarets, his repertoire included music hall songs and operettas, but he also played the piano and the accordion. He was the understudy for Luis Mariano in the operetta Le Chanteur de Mexico in 1951. In 1954 he engaged the talents of Rolande Darcœur, who trained him in opera. He subsequently won first prize in the international tenor competition in Cannes, and entered the Paris Opera and the opéra-comique. In 1957 he established himself, alongside Maria Callas, in Donizetti’s Edgardo de Lucia di Lammermoor, which marked the beginning of a very successful international career. In 1965, he made his concert debut in New York, at Carnegie Hall, in Lucrèce Borgia by Donizetti (role of Gennaro) with Montserrat Caballé.

Find where Alain Vanzo lived on Walk 47 – Gambetta