Quilico, Louis

▪ 2001

      Canadian opera singer (b. Jan. 14, 1925, Montreal, Que.—d. July 15, 2000, Toronto, Ont.), was an acclaimed baritone who sang more than 80 opera roles during a career that spanned nearly five decades. As a young man, Quilico won a scholarship to study at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia in Rome. He later attended the Montreal Conservatory and the Mannes College of Music, New York City, before making his professional debut at the Opera Guild of Montreal in 1954. The following year Quilico was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air, though he did not debut at the Met until 1972. He sang at the Met for 25 consecutive years, giving nearly 300 performances for the company, and he also appeared at prominent opera houses in Paris, Vienna, Florence, and Buenos Aires, Arg. Quilico specialized in Italian and French Romantic roles and was particularly admired for his performance in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, which he sang more than 500 times. He was named a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1974.

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