Nicola Filacuridi

Who was Nicola Filacuridi?

Nicola Filacuridi was an Egyptian-born operatic tenor of Greek origin, who had an illustrious career in Italy in the 1950s.

Filacuridi was born in Alexandria, Egypt into a family of Greek origin. He first studied in his native city with Ettore Cordone and made his debut at the Cairo Opera in 1945, as Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana. Shortly after this, he left for Italy to continue his studies with Federico Del Cupolo.

He made his Italian stage debut in Savona, as Alfredo, in 1949. The following year, he appeared at the Rome Opera as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur. He then sang at all the major opera houses of Italy, Trieste, Venice, Parma, Turin, Florence, Naples, etc. He made his La Scala debut in 1953, in a contemporary work Leonore 40/45 by Rolf Liebermann, and took part in the premiere of the Dialogues of the Carmelites in 1957. He also sang in Paul Hindemith's Mathis der Maler in 1958.