OctavioAceves.com
Moments of my life
Lyric Singer
At the age of five I start studying piano, theory and sol-fa with my maternal aunt, the teacher Esilda Mellado. About that same time I sing in theatre and radio as boy soprano.
At the age of sixteen I start my singing studies at the Superior Institute of Music of Rosario, Argentina, where my singing teachers are first Alcira Bugnonge de Rodríguez and Olga Celavine in interpretation. During this period I become soloist in the choir Concertus Musicorum under the direction of the master Miguel Angel Constanzo and then under the baton of Cristián Hernández Larguía in the Pro Música choir.
At the age of nineteen I make my debut in opera with A.R.D.A.L. (Asociación Rosarina de Artistas Líricos - Rosario Association of Lyric Artists) singing, among other, the roles of Tamino (Magic Flute), Alfredo (Traviata), Rodolfo (Bohéme) and Cavaradossi (Tosca).
My debut as Alfredo was a product of chance. Originally, since I could sing and dance, I was singing the second role (Gaston) and danced the bullfighters' duet at the party at the third act. Then, in the second performance, the first tenor lost his voice and since I knew the role to perfection I finally made my debut as the main character.
Photo of the first act toast. Octavio in the centre
between the soprano and the mezzo-soprano.
"El Círculo" Theatre, Rosario, Argentina, February 67.
In October 1976 I make my debut as chamber singer in the Cuyano Institute of Hispanic Culture, singing through all Latin America didactic concerts and complete cycles of Baroque and Romantic authors with excellent critic.
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| Singing Grieg the day of my debut as chamber
singer.
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View of the stage at the end of the concert. A very slim tenor between the teacher Aida Poch at the piano and the cultural director of the Institute.
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Starting 1980 my parapsychology career absorbs me almost completely and I only appear in some charity concerts.
From the year 1982 I leave my singing career and dedicate myself exclusively to my career as a writer, lecturer, and adviser in parapsychology, even if I continue linked to music as Benefactor Member of the Foundation Colón Theater, as a member of the managing commission of Friends of the Opera of Palma de Mallorca and as a member of the jury in international song contests, being one of the most outstanding the Massimo Bellini contest in Caltanisseta (Italy), where I share the presidency of the jury with the legendary mezzo-soprano Giulietta Simionato.
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| Listening to the contestants as jury.
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Close-up of the jury during the awards ceremony. To my left, Giulietta Simionato.
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General view of the end of the party in the international contest of Caltanisseta.
During the year 1986 I start working up my voice again with the Argentinean soprano Marta Millán, a singer that belongs to the stable cast of the Colón Theater in Buenos Aires (Argentina). I cannot but mention the constant support at my return to singing, and during all my life as a singer, of the pianist and orchestra conductor Enrique Ricci and of his wife the soprano Ana María González.
With Enrique and Ana María, close friends.
On May 15th, 1987 I sing again in public giving a recital at the Mozart Hall of the Auditorium in Palma de Mallorca, accompanied on the piano by the master Enrique Ricci. I rehearse this concert several times with my dear friend Victoria de los Ángeles, in view of my terror at returning to the stage.
Rehearsing at Victoria de los Ángeles's.
Program of the concert.
Posters at the door of the Auditorium in Palma de Mallorca.
Moments of the concert, accompanied by the master Enrique Ricci.
On July 8th, 1998, I record at the Fernández-Sastrón studios "Violetas Imperiales", at request of Carmen Sevilla for singing and dancing with her in the program "Noches de Carmen" of Antena 3.
Clic here to open the MP3-recording (3,85 Mb)
If you have Windows Media, you can try this version (0,98 Mb).
During the latest years I've attended at the Voralberg, Austria, two courses of improvement in chamber music taught by Elisabeth Schwartzkopf and by Brigitte Fassbender.
For years I've had the friendship of the, for many, best singer of the century, the great tenor Giuseppe di Stefano. As you might remember, he shared part of his career with Maria Callas.
Among friends, with Giuseppe (Pippo) di Stefano. In both
photos, having fun between Pippo and Adriana Molina.
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| The prince of Sirignano, author of the book
"The life of a useless man," between Giuseppe di
Stefano and me.
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With the soprano Monica Curth, the tenor's
wife, and his nephew.
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Farewell concert, Giuseppe di Stefano taking a bow and a very colourful Octavio Aceves in the first row, applauding him. Capri 92, even if the photo was dedicated in my house at Madrid during a dinner in 1994.
At present I continue as a jury and performing "Puccini and the Eternal Feminine," writing articles about music and festivals, interviewing lyric singers, and giving conferences about different aspects of classic music. The conference that more satisfaction brings me is the one I give about María Malibrán.