Tibor Kelen
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Tibor Kelen (18 September 1937 – 2001) was a Hungarian opera singer and cantor, a tenor.


Biography

Tibor Kelen was born in Budapest, Hungary and was a student of the
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
tenor
Tito Schipa Tito Schipa (; born Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa; 2 January 1889 in Lecce16 December 1965) was an Italian lyric tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice ...
. He sang in
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
and throughout Europe, including an engagement at
La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
in Milan. Though primarily known as a lyric tenor, he also sang heroic tenor roles with success. Kelen emigrated to Canada in 1967. In 1969, he sang the role of Alfredo in
Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
's ''
La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...
'' with the
New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...
, winning the company's first Morton Baum Prize as most promising new singer. Giving up opera, he went on to pursue a career as a
cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...
at Temple Beth El in
Cedarhurst, New York Cedarhurst is a village in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 6,592 at the 2010 census. The Incorporated Village of Cedarhurst is located in the region o ...
where he served for over twenty years. He died at the age of 63 in Saint John's Hospital in Far Rockaway, Queens, following a stroke. He was survived by his wife, Gabika (born as Gabriella Veres) and three children: Diana, Edgar and Martin. Gabika was born in Budapest. She studied at the Bela Bartok music academy with Rezso Feleki and majored in singing and the violin. She sang in many places, including the Budapest Dohany Street Great Synagogue where she was soloist. She frequently performed also elsewhere in Hungary as well as internationally. Later she decided to devote herself to her family. Tibor Kelen's younger brother Peter Kelen is also a tenor and sings with the Hungarian Opera Company. Another brother, Tamas Kelen, is a noted cantor in Budapest.


Sources

*Lipman, Steve, "Tibor Kelen, Longtime Long Island Cantor, Dies At 63", ''The Jewish Week'', 11 May 2001
Central Opera Service Bulletin
March/April 1969 (
PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
). Accessed 26 February 2009.


External links


Discography
on classicsonline.com
Cantor Tibor Kelen in concert accompanied by Arbie Orenstein
Recordings on YouTube 1938 births 2001 deaths Hazzans Hungarian Jews Hungarian operatic tenors Hungarian emigrants to Canada Jewish Canadian musicians Singers from Budapest People from Cedarhurst, New York 20th-century Hungarian male opera singers {{Hungary-opera-singer-stub