|
Born: September 28, 1926 - Vienna, Austria
Died: July 23, 2004 - Munich, Bavaria, Germany |
|
The Austrian tenor, Ferry Gruber, was trained at the Musikakademie of Vienna with Hans Swarowsky and with Hermann Gallos.
First Ferry Gruber worked in Vienna as a director of choir and conductor, turned then however to the singer career. He made his Stage debut in 1950 at the Stadttheater of Luzern as Tamino in Zauberflöte, after he had already attracted attention of the Swiss audience through the programmes of the radio station Monte Ceneri.
After the Stadttheater of Basel, Ferry Gruber came in 1954 to the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich where he sang primarily roles from the Buffo und the character tenor repertoire. In the same year he began a great career as operetta singer, whereby he appeared mainly at the Gärtnerplatztheater of Munich. He came frequently to appear as a guest at the Staatsoper and the Volksoper State Opera of Vienna, at which he worked constantly since 1960. At the Salzburg Festival he sang in 1959 Secco in Il Mondo della luna by J. Haydn.
Further appearances of Ferry Gruber were at the Operas of Hamburg and Köln, at the Deutschen Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf-Duisburg, at the Opera Houses of Dortmund, Frankfurt a.M. and Stuttgart. Abroad he could be heard as a guest in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Monte Carlo, in Ottawa and Vancouver and in 1988 at the Teatro Verdi in Triest. He participated at the Festivals of Florence and Edinburgh. He was generally considered as one of the prominent operetta tenors of his generation, whereby he was admired for his temperamental talent in this area as well as for his Buffo types on the opera stage. He worked as opera and operetta singer in broadcast and television programmes since 1969.
Recordings: Numerous complete operettas and selections from operettas on Eurodisc (Lustige Witwe, Land des Lächelns, in addition Die Kluge and Der Mond by Carl Orff and in Italian sung Butterfly), Electrola (selection from Vogelhändler), DGG, Melodram (Intermezzo by R. Strauss), Voce (Alessandro Stradella by Flotow), EMI (Rosenkavalier). |
