Alessandro Rota
Alessandro Rota is an Italian-born tenor
Contents
Biography
Alessandro Giuseppe Rota came to South Africa around 1931/1932 with the Gonzalez Italian Opera Company from Italy and decided to settle in South Africa.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
In 1938, Rota produced Cavalleria Rusticana in English at the Cape Town City Hall, and in Afrikaans in 1940 in Stellenbosch. Rota who also sang the tenor role of Turrido.
In 1939, he also established the Cape Town Opera Company, performing full-length operas for more than five years. His next endeavour was the Labia Grand Opera Company, which presented five operas in two years.
Along with William Pickerill and John Connell, Rota started the National Opera Company in 1940, which performed three opera seasons.
Rota produced a production of Madama Butterfly at the Cape Town City Hall in March/April 1948.
Rota produced/directed Carmen and Il trovatore at the Labia Theatre in April 1953.
Later Rota also played a role in the performance of opera in Stellenbosch before being involved in the establishment of the National Opera Association in 1955 and joining the EOAN Group in 1956, when the group performed its first opera.
Sources
Wayne Muller. 2018. A reception history of opera in Cape Town: Tracing the development of a distinctly South African operatic aesthetic (1985–2015). Unpublished PhD thesis.
Sjoerd Alkema. 2012. "Conductors of the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra, 1914-1965: a historical perspective". University of Cape Town. Unpublished PhD thesis.
Hilde Roos. 2012. 'Indigenisation and history: how opera in South Africa became South African opera'. Acta Academica Supplementum. 2012(1).
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