Stamp of the Month: January 2021

Ramón Vinay
The Chilean opera singer Ramón Mario Francisco Vinay Sepúlveda was born on August 31, 1911 in Chillán. He died on January 4, 1996 in Puebla, Mexico. January 2021 will mark the 25th anniversary of his death.

During his vocal training he sang mainly bass parts from 1930, but then made his debut in 1931 with the baritone part of Don Alfonso in Donizetti’s opera “La favorita”. From 1931 to 1944 he sang mainly at the Teatro de las Bellas Artes in Mexico City and on Mexican radio.

Chile 15.10.1997

After switching to tenor, he made his debut in 1943 as Don José in Bizet’s opera “Carmen” and in 1944 for the first time in the title role in Verdi’s “Otello”. In 1946 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, in 1947 at La Scala, in 1950 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and in 1952 he appeared as Tristan for the first time at the Bayreuth Festival. After switching to the baritone again, Vinay sang numerous roles in Wagner operas as well as in Tosca, Otello, La Traviata, Aida, Carmen, Pagliacci and La Bohème.
Ramón Vinay is best known for four legendary interpretations: the title role in Verdi’s “Otello” under the direction of Arturo Toscanini (1947); Tristan in “Tristan und Isolde” under the direction of Herbert von Karajan (1951) as well as Siegmund in “Walküre” and the title role in “Parsifal” under the direction of Clemens Krauss (1953).
Ramón Vinay gave his farewell performance on September 22, 1969 at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago in Verdi’s Otello, where he took over the baritone role of Iago in the first two acts and was on stage in the third and fourth act in the tenor role of Otello.

The video shows Ramón Vinay with Pedro Vargas in the 1943 film “Fantasia Ranchera” under the musical direction of Manuel Esperón.