Leandro Coy, Italian tenor opera singer, ca. 1871-1874 / J. Beaumont, artist and photographer, 11 Royal Arcade, Melbourne

P1/399

fonds

ca. 1871-1874

Graphic Materials, Photographs

447265

Digitised

Photographs - 1 carte de visite - 10.4 x 6.3 cm.

For details of Coy in Australia, see: Civilising the colonies : pioneering opera in Australia / Alison Gyger. Sydney : Opera-Opera (Pelinor), 1999 (various pp.)

Leandro Coy, tenor and his wife, mezzo soprano Giulia Tamburini had arrived with the original cast of the Cagli and Pompei Opera Company in 1871. Unlike Zelman and Cecchi, they did not initially settle in Melbourne. Instead, they remained with the company when it left Australia in 1875, but returned in 1879 as members of Lyster's next Italian opera company. When Lyster died in 1880 and the company broke up, they were stranded and sought to carve careers in Australia. As Tamburini recalled later in life, this is not an easy country to get away from, not like anywhere in Europe. It is so far away from everywhere. The pair became immensely popular as concert and opera artists. By the 1890s their daughter Alice Coy had also matured into a promising singer, strongly reminiscent of what her mother was in her younger days. -- Italy Down Under Pty Ltd (online website)

1 male, head and shoulders portrait

Out of copyright: created before 1955

Transferred from P1/Coy, Leandro (BM), January 2010
Digital order no:a4260099

Photographer's stamp
Coy -- lower edge of carte
"Italian Opera Singer / Sydney between / 1870-1875" -- lower edge of the reverse