Peter Dvorský (born 25 September 1951) is a Slovak

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

. Possessing a lyrical voice with a soft, elastic tone, and warm and melodious timbre, Dvorský's repertoire concentrates on roles from the Italian and Slavic repertories. He has sung the leading lyric tenor roles in the Italian, Slavic, and French repertoire houses all over the world, with occasional forays into

spinto Spinto ( Italian for "pushed") is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano or tenor voice of a weight between lyric and dramatic that is capable of handling large musical climaxes in opera at moderate intervals. (Sometimes the terms ' or ' a ...

roles. He is regarded as among the greatest Slovak artists, and one of the five best tenors in the world. He is one of Slovakia's best known cultural figures, both nationally and internationally.

Early life

Dvorský was born in

Partizánske Partizánske (, meaning "partisan town", formerly: ''Šimonovany'', from 1948: ''Baťovany'', ) is a town in Trenčín Region, Slovakia. Geography Partizánske is located in the northern part of the Danubian Hills around from Nitra and from t ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

(now in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

). He has four brothers, three of whom are also successful opera singers:

Jaroslav Dvorský Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav (disambiguation), Yaroslav or Jarosław (disambiguation), Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Slavic name, Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. Its feminine form is Jaroslava. There are several po ...

Miroslav Dvorský Miroslav Dvorský (born 16 May 1960) is a Slovak people, Slovak operatic tenor of international renown who has had an active career since the early 1980s. Biography Born in Partizánske, Dvorský has a twin brother, Jaroslav Dvorský, who is al ...

and Pavol Dvorský. His other brother, Vendelín Dvorský, is an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

. Dvorský's musical talent was clear from an early age. He first studied

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

before turning to opera.

Operatic career

Dvorský studied under Ida Černecká at the

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

State Conservatory. Immediately after graduating, he made his professional opera debut at the

Slovak National Theatre The Slovak National Theater (, abbr. SND) is the oldest professional theatre in Slovakia, consisting of three ensembles: opera, ballet, and drama. Its history begins shortly after the establishment of the first Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. It ...

in 1972, as Lensky in

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

's ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (, Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: Евгеній Онѣгинъ, романъ въ стихахъ, ) is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin. ''Onegin'' is considered a classic of ...

''. A year later, he won the national singing contest named after Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský at

Trnava Trnava (, , ; , also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of the Trnava Region and the Trnava District. It is the seat o ...

in 1973. In 1974, he won the first prize at the international

Tchaikovsky Competition The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. As part of the prize, he was accepted into La Scala's Scuola di Perfezionamento. In 1975, he won first place in the singing contest at the

Geneva International Music Competition The Geneva International Music Competition () is one of the world's leading international music competitions, founded in 1939. In 1957, it was one of the founding members of the World Federation of International Music Competition (WFIMC), whose he ...

. He then entered a yearlong apprenticeship under Renata Carosia and Giuseppe Lugga at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

from 1976 to 1977. In the following years, he quickly achieved international fame. He debuted at the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by ...

, where he was particularly successful and popular, in 1976, at the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

in 1977, and at

, Milan in 1979. His

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

debut was as the Duke in Verdi's ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

'' in 1978. Dvorský was highly esteemed by

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

, who referred to him several times as "my legitimate successor". In these years he became one of the leading tenors worldwide. He received several distinctions, among others being a national artist and state prize-winner of the former Czechoslovakia. On October 16, 1996, Dvorský resigned from his 24-year position at the Slovak National Theater (SND), in protest to Slovak Culture Minister Ivan Hudec's firing of director Dušan Jamrich. This event also prompted the resignation of former SND opera director Juraj Hrubant. Of his resignation, Dvorský said: "The reason why I have resigned is because of changes in SND... I left because I don't agree with a culture policy of this kind and also a transformation like this. Unfortunately, I cannot take it anymore." Since 2006, Dvorský has been the head of the opera house in

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

, then of the opera house of the Slovak National theater (SND) in Bratislava.

References

External links

Interview with Peter Dvorský
October 14, 1984 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dvorsky, Peter 1951 births Living people Slovak operatic tenors People from Partizánske Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Czechoslovak male opera singers 20th-century Slovak male opera singers 21st-century Slovak male opera singers Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 1998–2002