Pitt Voice Faculty Member Claudia Pinza, Former Member of Metropolitan Opera, Available to Speak About Her Late Close Friend Luciano Pavarotti

PITTSBURGH-University of Pittsburgh voice faculty member Claudia Pinza-a former member of the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and La Scala-is available to speak to members of the media about her close friend, tenor superstar Luciano Pavarotti, who died today.

Daughter of legendary basso Ezio Pinza (1892-1957), Claudia Pinza had, with her impresario husband Rolando Bozzolla, brought Pavarotti to Pittsburgh for concert performances three times-for recitals in 1976 and 1978, and for an appearance with Joan Sutherland and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1981. Pinza and Bozzolla had visited with Pavarotti twice in recent months, in late May and in early August.

Pinza can speak about her many memories of Pavarotti, including her recent visits with him. She may be reached through John Harvith.

Claudia Pinza made her La Scala opera debut opposite Fedora Barbieri in Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" and, in 1947, made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Micaela in a production of Bizet's "Carmen" starring Rise Stevens; that same season she sang Mimi in Puccini's "La Boheme" opposite Jan Peerce. With the San Francisco Opera, she sang opposite her father as Marguerite in Gounod's "Faust" and as Donna Elvira in Mozart's "Don Giovanni." She can be heard singing with her father in an excerpt from "Faust" in an Ezio Pinza centennial tribute CD she produced in 1992.

Pinza has taught at Pitt since 1979. In 1981, she founded in her father's memory the Ezio Pinza Council for American Singers of Opera, an intensive summer training program in voice, repertoire, language, and staging in Oderzo, Italy. Among her many students is the renowned American mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux.

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