The Cordovan tenor Pedro Lavirgen has passed away this Saturday at the age of 93 after a career of successes and recognitions in the world of opera. with him dies one of the most important voices that Spanish poetry has givencharacterized by a musicality with which he captivated the world.
Born in Bujalance in 1930, from his childhood he expressed his musical dispositionalthough there are two events that lead him to a singing career: on the one hand, his internment, for three years, in the hospital of the Brothers of San Juan de Dios in Córdoba, where he was part of the choir and, on the other, the influence of the parish priest of Bujalance, Don Ladislao Senostain, who organizes a choir and makes him its soloist. finished high school, obtains the title of national teacher and goes to Madrid where, At the same time that he teaches his classes, he is examined to enter the Chamber Choir of National Radio of Spain.
After alternate teaching and singing for a while, He dropped out of school and became a chorister at the Teatro de la Zarzuela, while studying music at the Conservatory and scenic art at the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático. she knows don Miguel Barrosa, singing teacher, and before that a very appreciated tenor in Italy for twenty years, and it is this one who completes his training as a singer.
He is one of the few tenors who has sung for 16 years in a row at the Vienna Opera, in addition to on the great world stages, until becoming a singing legend.
One of the people who has been closest to the tenor is Manuel Muñoz Moya, president of the association Los amigos de la opera, that he has received the news “with pain”, since “I have many and very good memories”, he says. “It’s a staggering loss. because Pedro Lavirgen was a great opera singer and has triumphed in the great theaters of the world, from La Scala in Milan to the Metropolitan”, concludes Muñoz.
For his part, the Piano professor Juan Miguel Moreno Calderon He has also expressed his sorrow for the death of the tenor, of which he highlighted his great importance within the world of poetry, highlighting «its infinite possibilities and its power of communication on stage».
Throughout his long and fruitful career he received countless awards, including the National Theater Awards of 1963 and 1972, the gold medal of the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid in 1967, the gold medal of the Círculo de la Ópera de México in 1965, that of the Barcelona High School in 1969, the Verdi d’Or in 1973 and the Jussi Björling of Modena in 1977. Virtually retired from the stage in 1993, he held the chair of singing at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid.
Condolences from the Municipality of Bujalance
He Bujalance City Council has lamented in a post on its social network Facebook the death of Pedro Lavirgen, who was the favorite son of the town. “From here we convey our deepest condolences to family and friends. A sad day for Bujalance, culture and music.”