Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Bastia, Corsica, France
About José Luccioni
- José Luccioni (October 14, 1903 in Bastia – October 5, 1978 in Marseille) was a French operatic tenor of Corsican origin.
- He possessed one of the best dramatic voices of the 1930s and 1940s. Initially a racing car driver and mechanic at the Citroën car company, his voice was discovered while he was serving in the military.
- He studied singing in Paris with the eminent former tenors Léon David and Léon Escalais and made his debut in Rouen as Cavaradossi in Tosca in 1931.
- During the 1932-33 season he debuted at both the Palais Garnier and the Opéra-Comique, where he won considerable acclaim as Don José in Carmen, a role he sang an estimated 500 times during his career. He sang widely in Europe, spending much of 1935-37 in Italy, appearing in Florence, Turin and Verona but mostly at the Rome Opera.
- He also appeared at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden, the Monte Carlo Opera, the Liceo in Barcelona and other European venues.
- He made his South American debut at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1936, and sang in the United States at the Lyric Opera of Chicago during the 1937-38 season. Luccioni had an impressively large voice that combined beauty with power, in the tradition of his great French predecessor at the Paris Opéra, Paul Franz (1876–1950).
- He was also a fine singing-actor.
- Notable roles of his included Roland, Samson, Vasco, Jean, Turiddu, Canio, Chenier, Radames and Otello.
- He also appeared in a few motion pictures, including Colomba (1947) and Le bout de la route (1948).
- After retirement, he served as Director of the Opéra de Nice. His son, Jacques Luccioni, was also an opera singer, first as a tenor and later as a baritone. Luccioni died in the South of France shortly before his 75th birthday.
- He left a sizeable legacy of recordings made during his vocal prime.
- A wide selection of these recordings are available on CD.
- They confirm Luccioni's reputation as being one of the finest ever French dramatic tenors.
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