Sydney Rayner (September 12, 1895 – September 14, 1981)SYDNEY RAYNER (1895-1981), Social Security Death Index
/ref> was an American operatic tenor. Born in New Orleans, Rayner went to Milan in 1924 for vocal studies, which led to his debut in 1927, in Rome, as Rodolfo in ''La bohème''. He was often heard at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

and the

Berlin Staatsoper The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...

. On May 23, 1936, the dramatic tenor made his Metropolitan Opera debut, as Don José in ''Carmen'', opposite Bruna Castagna. He appeared with that company through 1938, in ''Aïda'' (with Elisabeth Rethberg), ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (with Rosa Ponselle), ''Carmen'' again (opposite Ponselle), ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'' (conducted by Maurice Abravanel and directed by Herbert Graf), ''Manon'' (with Bidu Sayão in her Met debut, later with Grace Moore), ''Faust'', and ''Pagliacci'' (opposite Robert Weede in his Met debut). The tenor recorded for Decca and Sonabel. In 1943, Rayner sang in ''La forza del destino'', opposite

Herva Nelli Herva Nelli (January 9, 1909May 31, 1994) was an Italian-American operatic soprano. Biography Named after the French socialist Gustave Hervé, she was born in Florence, where she attended a convent school. At the age of ten, however, she and her f ...

, at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

. Rayner died, aged 86, in East Patchogue, New York.

External links

* Sydney Rayner in an excerpt from ''Manon'' (audio only, 1937).

References

* Metropolitan Opera (Performance archives on the MetOpera Database)
Rayner, Sydney (Tenor)
*'' The New York Times'' (September 15, 1981)
"Sydney Rayner, 86; Tenor at Met Opera in the 30s, is Dead"
American operatic tenors Musicians from New Orleans 1895 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American male opera singers Singers from Louisiana American expatriates in Italy Classical musicians from Louisiana {{US-opera-singer-stub