István Berczelly (Bass-Baritone)

Born: September 9, 1938 - Budapest, Hungary

The Hunbgarian bass-baritone, István Berczelly, was born in Budapest to Dr. László Berczelly (1899-1986) and Ilona Ghillány (?–1982). From 1952 to 1956, he studied at Budapest Madách High School. In 1965, he completed privately the Béla Bartók Music School and Grammar School. He studied singing with Rezső Feleki, László Jámbor and Miklós Szabó.

From 1965 to 1970, István Berczelly was a member of the Debreceni Csokonai Színház (Csokonai Theatre in Debrecen), where he performed Mozart's Don Giovanni as his first major role. In 1970, he joined the Hungarian State Opera, of which he became in 2001 a life-time member.

István Berczelly’s operatic repertoire includes almost all the major roles for baritone and bass. In recent years he appeared in the following roles: II. Endre in Erkel’s Bánk bán, Old Priest in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, High Inquisitor in Verdi’s Don Carlos, Boris in Dmitri Shostakovich’s: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Hermann Margrave in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Wotan in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, Pogner in Wagner’s The Meistersingers of Nuremberg, Klingsor in Wagner’s Parsifal. He ofter performs in oratorios and has made a variety of audio recordings..

Sources:
Hungarian State Opera Website & Hungarian Wikipédia Website (March 2012), English translation by Aryeh Oron (May 2012)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (May 2012)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Salamon Kamp

Bass

[V99-06] (1999, 2-CD): BWV 232 [1^st recording]
[V00-06] (2000, Audio): BWV 244 [1^st recording, Jesus]
[V93-04] (1993, Video): BWV 245 [1^st recording; Jesus]
[V08-03] (2008, Video): BWV 245 [4^th recording; Jesus]
[V09-04] (2009, Video): BWV 245 [6^th recording; Jesus]
[V10-03] (2010, Audio): BWV 245 [7^th recording]
[V12-04] (2012, Audio): BWV 245 [8^th recording]
[V13-03] (2013, Video): BWV 245 [9^th recording]
[V14-04] (2014, Audio): BWV 245 [10^th recording]
[V15-04] (2015, Audio): BWV 245 [11^th recording]
[V16-03] (2016, Audio): BWV 245 [12^th recording]
[V19-04] (2019, Video): BWV 245 [14^th recording]
[V99-12] (1999, Audio): BWV 248/1-3 [1^st recording]
[V05-12] (2005, CD/Video): BWV 248/1-3 [2^nd recording; Jesus, Arias]
[V08-12] (2008, Video): BWV 248/1-3 [3^rd recording; Jesus, Arias]
[V10-12] (2010, Video): BWV 248/1-3 [5^th recording]
[V11-12] (2011, Audio): BWV 248/1-3 [6^th recording]
[V12-12] (2012, Audio): BWV 248/1-3 [7^th recording]
[V13-12] (2013, Audio): BWV 248/1-3 [8^th recording]

Links to other Sites

Berczelly István (Hungarian State Opera) [Hungarian]
Berczelly István (Wikipédia) [Hungarian]