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Consiglio had a vigorous voice with very easy and pointed high notes, a warm and round middle register, an unmistakably Italian timbre and color, a technique that was solid and natural at the same time and that allowed him to sing for more than 50 years. His voice was often compared to two operatic legends, Gigli and Lauri-Volpi. Of these two singers Consiglio embodies the opposite features: the tenderness and elegance of Gigli’s phrasing and the metallic brightness of Lauri-Volpi’s top register.

Consiglio was born in a small town near Foggia, San Marco La Catola, on February 17. 1923. His father, Francesco, was the first trombonist of the local music band and his mother, Rosina Cicchetti, was a woman with an extraordinary linguistic and literary knowledge: “My mother was the daughter of the accountant of Marchese di San Marco, back in the days when there was still the kingdom of two Sicilies in Southern Italy. The Marchese treated her like a daughter and provided her with a childhood and an education worthy of the most refined marchesina”.

The oldest of five brothers, Giovanni had to face the dramatic reality of the Second World War while still only a teenager: “My father was an confirmed opponent of Fascism, unlike my uncle who was an ardent supporter of Mussolini’s politics. My uncle was also responsible for directing several schools in the area and wanted me to be recruited into the ‘avanguardisti’ section of the army. Therefore one day I got a letter summoning me to war. I was not even 17 when I had to say goodbye to my parents and leave for Libya, where I remained more than two years. After the battle of El-Alamein, I was taken prisoner-of-war by the British Army.

The British treated us fairly enough. There was a Major who picked me as his assistant, because I was young and strong – he claimed. When he was promoted Colonel, he asked me to sing a song in his honor. First he wanted me to perform the Serenata by Schubert, a song that I knew, but only the Italian version. I agreed, but only if after that they would allow me to sing ’O sole mio. I sang that famous Neapolitan song in front of thousands of English officials showing them all my pride to be Italian. At the end of my performance, the crowd exploded in a standing ovation. In a very short time I became the most popular prisoner in the concentration camp. Everybody would greet me by name.”




Once the war was over, Consiglio went back to his hometown and like many young people of his generation who had sacrificed their youth to the war, he lacked any type of specialization necessary for entering the working world. Once again his uncle, who knew and appreciated his nephew’s vocal talent, played a fundamental role in Consiglio’s life, pushing him toward studying music.

“I used to go to the Conservatory in Foggia twice a week. I remember that my teacher sent me to a competition in Bari. When I started singing the aria Un dì all’azzurro spazio from Giordano’s Andrea Chenier, the jury informed me that the competition was for pop musicians only, not opera singers.”
Fortunately things went differently for Consiglio when a year later, in 1947, he had the opportunity to sing with an orchestra in Mascagni’s masterwork, Cavalleria rusticana. “I was only 24. An agent heard me singing that evening and at the end of the performance walked into my dressing room and offered me a contract to sing in Buenos Aires. I accepted with great enthusiasm and, after few weeks on the ocean, I finally arrived in the Argentina of Peron’s era.”

Once there, Consiglio met Maestro Lo Giovine, an Italian-Argentinian conductor who introduced him into the most sophisticated circles of the capital. “At one of those parties, after I had sung, I was introduced to one of the richest and more influential ladies of Buenos Aires, Mrs. Escurras. She asked me if I wanted to sing for Radio Belgrano. I couldn’t believe it! It was a perfect job, well paid and not particularly demanding: I just had to sing three arias of my choosing each week (all in Italian).

“After a year of incredible success, I was offered a contract with another Radio Station, Radio El Mundo, whose programs were broadcast at 5 in the afternoon, the choice hours of the day. I refused the offer and never had regrets about that decision. At about the same time, a conductor from Milano, Achille Lietti, offered me a tournée in South America where I would have a chance to sing the principal tenor roles in operas like Lucia, Traviata, Cavalleria and Tosca. I decided to start this new adventure. It turned out to be a huge success, so much so that I got hired as principal tenor at the Colón Theater in Buenos Aires.”

And yet, Achille Lietti in person, against his own interests, advised his friend: “If you remain here, you’ll sing only in Argentina for the rest of your life. You are Italian. Go back to Italy and start making a career there.”
It was a difficult decision for an artist who was already used to the comforts of a certain economic status and to a fame and level of admiration that he would have to achieve in Italy from scratch. Yet the challenge didn’t frighten Consiglio, who went back to his homeland in 1955. Once again he assumed the role of student, taking voice lessons for three years from the famous tenor Francesco Merli in Milan.
“While I was in Italy, I sang everywhere. I remember with particular joy a performance of Cavalleria Rusticana in Palmi (Reggio Calabria), Cilea’s hometown, for which I received many generous reviews. I also recall a performance of Tosca at the Carlo Felice Theater in Genoa with the mythic Magda Olivero. I was filling in for another star, Ferruccio Tagliavini, who had canceled. I know my singing that night didn’t make the audience miss Tagliavini.



“During this run of performances up and down the boot, I caught the interest of Maestro Verna, a musician originally from Abruzzo and well known in the USA, especially in the New York area, where he was also known as the husband of Mary Curtis-Verna, one of the most Met celebrated sopranos.
“One day Verna asked me: ‘Would you like to sing in the USA?’ Who wouldn’t have liked that, I said. The USA was a dream for all of us in those days! I didn’t want to risk, though, going there without proper documentation. Thanks to Verna, I got a contract from a company called Wagner Opera, whose repertory, despite the name, was exclusively Italian.”

On June 13, 1958, after another long cruise on the ocean, Consiglio arrived in the USA at Ellis Island, making his official entrance into the American musical arena. Only eight days later, the Wagner Opera Company engaged him for in a colossal Aida at the Triboro Stadium. From there he started performing in opera houses across the country: New Orleans, Providence, Dallas, San Francisco, Detroit, Washington, Chicago, met everywhere with large and warm receptions.
“I was very satisfied on the professional side, but feeling like a permanent guest in a foreign country is not always a pleasant sensation. Every four months I had to go to the Immigration office” – whose building, ironically enough, was exactly where they built the new MET a decade later – “and show them all the contracts of my future engagements.”


Soon, though, Consiglio not only got the visa, but also started an international career, often going back to his beloved South America. In those years the Foggiano tenor had the opportunity to sing in Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina. His lirico-spinto repertoire now included Alvaro in Verdi’s La Forza del destino and Canio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, a role that Consiglio went on to sing 381 times!
“Once back in the USA, I’ve been offered to sing Trovatore at the Staten Island Theater in a evening in honor of Eileen Farrell, a native of Staten Island. After that performance my eyes first saw a girl whose beauty and grace were extraordinary. Her name was Marion Gambardella. Two years later, in 1961, she became my wife and, thank God, she still is. We are very close to our golden anniversary!”

Also in 1961, after an memorable recital at Carnegie Hall, came an important engagement with the Cincinnati Opera. For six seasons, from 1962 to 1967, Consiglio performed as lead tenor. The Cincinnati engagements were followed by cameo appearances in New York City Opera productions, memories of which Consiglio doesn’t cherish: “ I never liked the atmosphere you would breathe in that theater. One episode in particular made me decide to never go back. I auditioned for Maestro Julius Rudel, house conductor at NYCO and at the end of the audition the comment of the French conductor was: ‘You Italians have a defect. You sing to much to the audience’! When the hell should a singer ever sing with his back turned to the audience? Just an idiotic remark! I had to work with him nonetheless, having already signed a contract, but that was the end of our cooperation. I should also say that I never particularly liked men that perm their hair.”

His experience at the MET was also problematic. “In 1973 they hired me to sing I Troiani by Berlioz, and only one rehearsal before the final dress they told me that I should have sung in French. There wasn’t possibly any time for me to learn the whole role in French, so I broke the contract. Jon Vickers filled in for me. Thinking back, I know for sure that that episode reinforced the positions of some colleagues who were jealous of me and always tried to hinder my career, especially at the MET.”

If in some colleagues Consiglio’s voice generated envy, in others it generated the most sincere admiration. “I did a concert at Avery Fisher Hall in New York and Franco Corelli came to see me. At the end of the performance he said in front of many journalists and fans that nobody was able to sing that repertoire at my level. We became very close friends and we remained so until the very end.”


Throughout a career that lasted more than 40 years, Consiglio shared the stage with colleagues like Olivero, Gencer, Albanese, Milanov, Tucci, Amara, Farrell, Hines, Milnes and Scotto and sang under the illustrious batons of Beecham, Patanè and Coppola. The latter dedicated to Consiglio the tenor aria Antico Amor, later included in his opera Sacco e Vanzetti.

Toward the end of the 1970’s Consiglio joined the voice faculty of Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts and opened a studio in Manhattan through which many important names have passed: “One day, a friend of mine, Eugene Kohn, called to see if I could give some advice to a famous tenor who was having trouble with Alvaro’s role in La forza del destino. That tenor was Placido Domingo. More than a lesson, ours was an exchange of ideas. Domingo has always been grateful to me because of that.”
Next to the teaching, from 1979 to 1983, Consiglio worked also as Artistic Director of Connecticut State Opera in Stamford. In 1984 he founded his own company in New Jersey which he ran until 1992, the year of his farewell performance.

In recent years Consiglio has dedicated his time exclusively to teaching, transmitting with great passion his enormous technical and artistic knowledge to the younger generations.
A publication of a considerable amount of material, audio and video, is scheduled for release in the future. This material has been patiently collected over the course of many years by businessman Enzo Pizzimenti, also one of Consiglio’s students – a pianist Arthur McManus. The purpose of this project is to make the moments of a career, of a voice and of an artistic personality of incalculable value available to a larger audience of opera lovers around the world.