Ezio Flagello
Born 1931, New York, NY
Died 2009, Palm Bay, FL
Listen to this! If you hadn’t seen the name of this singer, and if you had been told he was the number one basso in the world at the time, would it have been a stretch to believe it?
While Flagello was an outstanding artist, he never rose to the top position. To get an idea of his acting ability and vocal control, listen to “Ella giammai m’amò” from Verdi’s Don Carlo in a concert conducted by a 27-year-old James Levine.
Ezio Flagello sang on the world’s opera stages from 1955 to 1987, at both The Metropolitan Opera and on international stages, as well as in recording studios and on the concert platform. Unfortunately for him, so did Cesare Siepi, Jerome Hines, Boris Christoff, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Giorgio Tozzi, and Kurt Moll.