Eminent US baritone, RIP
RIPThe death has been communicated of Dominic Cossa, a stalwart Met baritone in the 1970s and beyond. One record, he sang opposite Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti in L’elisir d’amore and in Handel’s Giulio Cesare opposite Norman Treigle and Beverly Sills.
After leaving the stage he was an outstanding voice teacher at the Manhattan School of Music.
He was 89 at his passing.
He was a long time faculty member at The University of Maryland.
He was an excellent singer and performer and a nice person as well. Quite underrated.
A fine baritone I heard onstage in GIULIO CESARE and as Germont in TRAVIATA. His non-Italian roles included Fritz in DIE TOTE STADT and the elder Des Grieux in MANON.
At the Metropolitan Opera, he sang Mercutio in ROMEO ET JULI ETTE. In an interview at that time he noted that he was rarely offered French roles, “because when people hear ‘Dominic Cossa’ they think ‘spaghetti and meatballs.'”
Cossa sang a very good Enrico in support of Costanza Cuccaro’s debut as Lucia in Vancouver in 1982. He was a fine artist.
I had the pleasure of singing with him when I was an apprentice at the Central City Opera, Colorado. I was just twenty one. He was a superb performer and a real gentleman!