Melis György
voice - baritone
Place of Birth
Szarvas
Date of Birth
1923
2 July 1923 Szarvas – 27 November 2009 Budapest
Opera singer (baritone), beside his excellent singing talent, he is also well-known for his outstanding acting performance – he was equally great in lyrical and dramatic roles.
He studied music at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy as pupil of Imre Molnár, Anna Rosti, Józsa Sallay and Ferencné Révhegyi (1945-1951).
From 1949 he was private singer of the Hungarian State Opera House, he debuted in the role of Morales (Bizet: Carmen). He won the VIT Prize in Budapest (1949) and in Bukarest (1953), and then came in first at the Singing Contest in Prague (1954). He guest performed in almost every country of Europe (Paris, Milan, Vienna, Glyndebourne, Liverpool, Brussels, Cologne, Graz and Moscow) and in Los Angeles, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Australia. On his foreign concerts he primarily achieved outstanding success in the role of Don Giovanni (Mozart), which he sang in German and in Italian, too.
Except the works of Wagner, he sang all of the significant (almost seventy) baritone roles of the opera history. The most important ones are: Don Giovanni (Mozart), Don Alfonso, Guglielmo (Mozart: Cosi fan tutte), Count Almaviva (Mozart: The marriage of Figaro), Pizarro (Beethoven: Fidelio), Jago (Verdi: Othello), Falstaff (Verdi), Germont (Verdi: Traviata), Amonasro (Verdi: Aida), Posa (Verdi: Don Carlos), Figaro (Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia), Escamillo (Bizet: Carmen), Don Pasquale, Malatesta (Donizetti), Gianni Schicchi (Puccini), Marcel (Puccini: Il tabarro), Shaklovity (Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina), Bluebeard (Bartók: Bluebeard’s castle).
Outstanding oratorio and song singer, he successfully performed the passions of J. S. Bach and the works of Brahms, Berlioz, Mahler, Schubert and Schumann. A number of contemporary Hungarian works are related to his name. In Hungary he published eighteen opera albums and two independent albums. In 1988 he founded his own award, the György Melis Memorial Plaque that is for singers who vocalize the most clearly and beautifully.
He was honored with the Liszt Prize (1954, 1959, 1973), the title Merited Artist (1959), the Kossuth Prize (1962), the title Excellent Artist (1967), the Kazinczy Prize (1973), the Bartók-Pásztory Award (1986), the Diamond Star of Order of the People’s Republic of Hungary (1988), the Pro Budapest and the Hungarian Heritage Award (1998), the Master Artist of the Hungarian State Opera House Award, the Gundel Pro Arte Award and the My Homeland Award (2003) and the Honorary Award of the Táncsics Foundation (2005). György Melis was eternal member of the Hungarian State Opera House since 1989, and he became Freeman of Szarvas in 1986.
Opera singer (baritone), beside his excellent singing talent, he is also well-known for his outstanding acting performance – he was equally great in lyrical and dramatic roles.
He studied music at the Ferenc Liszt Music Academy as pupil of Imre Molnár, Anna Rosti, Józsa Sallay and Ferencné Révhegyi (1945-1951).
From 1949 he was private singer of the Hungarian State Opera House, he debuted in the role of Morales (Bizet: Carmen). He won the VIT Prize in Budapest (1949) and in Bukarest (1953), and then came in first at the Singing Contest in Prague (1954). He guest performed in almost every country of Europe (Paris, Milan, Vienna, Glyndebourne, Liverpool, Brussels, Cologne, Graz and Moscow) and in Los Angeles, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Australia. On his foreign concerts he primarily achieved outstanding success in the role of Don Giovanni (Mozart), which he sang in German and in Italian, too.
Except the works of Wagner, he sang all of the significant (almost seventy) baritone roles of the opera history. The most important ones are: Don Giovanni (Mozart), Don Alfonso, Guglielmo (Mozart: Cosi fan tutte), Count Almaviva (Mozart: The marriage of Figaro), Pizarro (Beethoven: Fidelio), Jago (Verdi: Othello), Falstaff (Verdi), Germont (Verdi: Traviata), Amonasro (Verdi: Aida), Posa (Verdi: Don Carlos), Figaro (Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia), Escamillo (Bizet: Carmen), Don Pasquale, Malatesta (Donizetti), Gianni Schicchi (Puccini), Marcel (Puccini: Il tabarro), Shaklovity (Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina), Bluebeard (Bartók: Bluebeard’s castle).
Outstanding oratorio and song singer, he successfully performed the passions of J. S. Bach and the works of Brahms, Berlioz, Mahler, Schubert and Schumann. A number of contemporary Hungarian works are related to his name. In Hungary he published eighteen opera albums and two independent albums. In 1988 he founded his own award, the György Melis Memorial Plaque that is for singers who vocalize the most clearly and beautifully.
He was honored with the Liszt Prize (1954, 1959, 1973), the title Merited Artist (1959), the Kossuth Prize (1962), the title Excellent Artist (1967), the Kazinczy Prize (1973), the Bartók-Pásztory Award (1986), the Diamond Star of Order of the People’s Republic of Hungary (1988), the Pro Budapest and the Hungarian Heritage Award (1998), the Master Artist of the Hungarian State Opera House Award, the Gundel Pro Arte Award and the My Homeland Award (2003) and the Honorary Award of the Táncsics Foundation (2005). György Melis was eternal member of the Hungarian State Opera House since 1989, and he became Freeman of Szarvas in 1986.