Franco Corelli at the Met

January 27, 1961, was an auspicious night at the Metropolitan—that evening’s performance of Verdi’s Il Trovatore marked the dual debuts of two legendary artists, soprano Leontyne Price and tenor Franco Corelli. The pair would go on to have unparalleled careers, with Corelli headlining more than 360 Met performances over the course of the next 15 years. Adored for his movie-star good looks, burnished tone, and soaring high notes, Corelli wowed audiences in many of the repertory’s most heroic tenor roles. In celebration of the centenary of his birth in April 1921, enjoy highlights of some of his most thrilling Met appearances—including excerpts from Puccini’s Tosca and Turandot, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Massenet’s Werther, and Verdi’s Aida, Don Carlo, and La Forza del Destino.