Gianni Raimondi (Bologna 1923 – Pianoro 2008) He studied singing in Mantua with Gennaro Barra-Caracciolo and in Bologna with Antonio Melandri, making his debut in Budrio September 10, 1947 as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. The following year he played Ernesto in Don Pasquale at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna.He sang then in many Italian and foreign theaters, including Covent Garden and the Opera of Paris and in 1954 was chosen for the world premieres of The bass Valentino Bucchi at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence and the Resurrection and the Life (Ego sum resurrectio et vita) Virgil Mortari at the Teatro Verdi of the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore to the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.The first major statement coincided with the debut at La Scala in 1956, La Traviata alongside Maria Callas, in the historic edition with Luchino Visconti. Always Scala, next to the "Divine", was Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Percy in the famous shot of Anne Boleyn in 1957. There followed, for nearly two decades, countless appearances in Milan theater, particularly in several other important shots of obsolete works like Moses, Semiramide, Lucrezia Borgia, The Sicilian vespers. A special mention deserves his Rodolfo in La bohème, including historical remains the 1963 edition under the baton of Herbert von Karajan. He sang in 270 performances at La Scala until 1975.Other important debuts were the United States (San Francisco) and in Vienna in 1957 (at the Staatsoper will return regularly until 77), in Buenos Aires in the 59 and the Metropolitan in 65, next to the pure novice in the New York theater Mirella Freni.He did not have a great record fortune. His best known testimony is probably the film version of the aforementioned Bohème directed by Karajan, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and then performed at the Scala in Vienna. In 1990 he was awarded the "Premio Caruso".photography by renowned artist and dated 1954 Photography; 18X12,3 cm Excellent condition