Giorgio Ronconi by Mayall

Giorgio Ronconi (1810-1890); Italian baritone who created the role of Nabucco in Verdi’s eponymous opera at La Scala in Milan (1842). He was the son of the famous tenor and singing teacher Domenico Ronconi (1772-1839) and the brother of the opera singers Sebastiano (1814-1900) and Felice Ronconi (1811-1875). He received his vocal training from his father and in 1831 he made his debut at Pavia as Valdeburgo in Bellini’s “La Straniera”. In the season 1832/33 he was engaged by the “Teatro Valle” in Rome where he created the role of Pietro in Lauro Rossi’s opera “Il desertore Svizzero”. He appeared at the premières of 7 operas by Donizetti: as Cardenio in “Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo” (1833), as Torquato Tasso in the eponymous opera (1833), as Enrico in “Il campanello di notte” (1836), as Nello Dello Pietra in “Pia de' Tolomei” (1837), as Corrado Waldorf in “Maria de Rudenz” (1838), as Don Pedro in “Maria Padilla” (1841) and as Enrico in “Maria di Rohan”(1843).
In 1842 he appeared in London at Her Majesty’s Theatre and from 1847/66 he was a regularly seen singer at Covent Garden, where in 1853 he sang at the English première of “Rigoletto”. He made guest appearances in Budapest, Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, St. Petersburg and New York. He was married to the soprano Giovannina Giannoni. After his retirement from the stage he founded a singing school at Granada (Spain) and in 1874 he was appointed as a professor at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid. Here he died in 1890.