Today, let’s mark the passing of one of the modern bel canto tradition’s most ardent champions: Bruno Campanella. He died yesterday, August 4 2026, aged 83. I’d like to remember him by celebrating the landmark recordings and repertoire associations of his career. He conducted at most of the world’s great opera houses, but his strongest association was with Teatro Regio di Torino, the opera of Turin. He led hundreds of performances there from 1984 through the early 2000s. And it was the venue of his first commercial released recording in 1987:
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia – Sinfonia – Bruno Campanella, Orchestra Teatro Regio di Torino
This is actually the one and only CD of Bruno Campanella I ever owned, a 3-CD box of The Barber of Seville in a complete live recording from Turin in 1987. This particular edition of the CD set was a re-issue in 1997, not long before I stopped buying regular CDs altogether (SACDs arrived on the scene in 1999). As you can see in the Apple Music player on the right, this performance has held its own in the streaming era, over-bright recorded sound notwithstanding.
The singing star of that Barber of Seville was American tenor Rockwell Blake, celebrated for his exceptional agility, his ability to handle bel canto roles with high tessitura, and his central role in the late 20th-century revival of Rossini’s most demanding operas. And here he was paired with Campanella, who was noted for his command of that repertoire. Campanella was also loved by the divas and primos of the revival for his confident musical support.
Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Act I: Eccomi – Oh! Quante volte
Star singers are the heart of bel canto, and Campanella knew how to get the best out of them! That is why he was chosen to accompany Kathleen Battle, conducting the London Philharmonic, for her outstanding opera arias recital featuring Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, “Bel Canto” released in 1993 on Deutsche Grammophon. Battle wasn’t a true bel canto soprano, but with Campanella providing support, she does a convincing job of it… am I the only one who hears a Joan Sutherland with much better diction and articulation throughout this album?
Now let’s have a look at a notable Bruno Campanella performance in full flight: from the Houston Grand Opera in 1995, this is and aria from their production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella), featuring another leading diva, Cecilia Bartoli as Angelina.
I’ll end today’s playlist, and our remembrance of Bruno Campanella, with a complete staged production from La Scala (including some good shots of the conductor in action in the pit), Milan in 1998. And appropriately, this is an opera by Campanella’s composition teacher Nino Rota (best known for soundtrack scores for Fellini films and The Godfather): Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (The Italian Straw Hat). The La Scala revival of this rarity starred Juan Diego Flórez in the leading role Fadinard, the bridegroom whose horse eats a straw hat and sets the whole slapstick comedy in motion.
