Arrigo Pola

Arrigo Pola (5 July 1919 – 3 November 1999) was an Italian tenor who had an active international performance career during the 1940s through the 1960s. After, he embarked on a second career, as a celebrated voice teacher in both Italy and Japan. Among his notable pupils were tenors Luciano Pavarotti, Giuliano Bernardi, Vincenzo La Scola and bass Michele Pertusi. He also served as the Artistic Director of the Fujiwara Opera from 1957 to 1965.

Born in Finale Emilia, Pola was the nephew of baritone Toffanetti Ubaldo. He spent most of his youth living in Modena. In 1937, he entered the Orazio Vecchi Conservatory in Modena, where he initially studied to be a trumpeter. While there, his fine singing voice was discovered, and he was persuaded to switch to vocal studies under Mercedes Aicardi. In 1940, he won (along with the young bass Cesare Siepi and the mezzo-soprano Fedora Barbieri) Italy's national opera singing contest. Shortly after the competition win, he was drafted into the Italian Army where he served for three years, during World War II. He spent much of his time during the war stationed in Gdańsk in German-occupied Poland. A large portion of his duties were musical ones, and he was able to spend much of his service time playing trumpet and singing in a military band.

After his military service ended in 1943, Pola continued his opera studies with Bertazzoni Barbieri and Leone Magiera. He made his professional opera debut in June, 1945, at the Teatro Comunale Modena as Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, opposite Sara Scuderi in the title role. He returned to that house soon after as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Mafalda Favero in the title role, as Alfredo in La traviata with Margherita Carosio as Violetta, and as the Duke of Mantua in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto with Tito Gobbi as the title hero.

...
Wikipedia