Ezio Pinza was born in Rome, Italy, in 1892. He studied at the Bologna Conservatory with singing teachers Ruzza and Vezzani. He had a smooth beautifully produced cantante bass voice of extended range which also enabled him to sing Escamillo in BizetΓÇÖs Carmen, a r├┤le normally sung by bass-baritones or even baritones.
After early success in Italy he sang for 22 consecutive seasons at the Metropolitan Opera and was heard as Figaro in MozartΓÇÖs Le Nozze di Figaro, and as Don Giovanni at Salzburg. He repeated Don Giovanni at Covent Garden. On leaving the Met at the age of 56, he had a second career in films, operetta and musicals and had enormous success in Rodgers and HammersteinΓÇÖs South Pacific on Broadway. he died in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1957.
