Caesar Paul Curzi
October 14, 1926 - February 10, 2023
Born in San Francisco on October 14, 1926. Died in Walnut Creek on February 10, 2023.
Caesar Curzi was the son of Guido Curzi (foundry worker and amateur musician) and Elvira Finetti (cannery worker and homemaker). He started his singing career as a child in North Beach, San Francisco, where he sang with the Salesian Boys Club. He had his first paid singing engagement at age nine. His family moved to the East Bay where he graduated from St. Elizabeth’s High School in 1944. Always very industrious, he worked at many jobs at this time including paper routes, construction, sales, delivery, and roofing. But his biggest passion remained singing, which he pursued relentlessly. He was drafted into the military after high school where he got involved in recruiting, including radio productions. He attended Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley after the military. His career continued with the San Francisco Opera Company starting in 1947, initially in the chorus but then in leading roles. At that time he was mentored by Jussi Bjorling, who became a close friend, and Mario del Monaco. His career moved overseas to Germany in 1955. He sang at multiple opera houses in Germany including Munich, Frankfurt, Nurnberg, and Berlin among others, with over 100 - 150 performances every year. He also sang in concerts, television productions, movies, and recordings. He worked outside of Germany in most of Europe, and Israel, and continued performances in North America. He formally “retired “from his primary opera house in Nurnberg in 1992 (but this did not prevent further performances for many years). While still singing, he founded an international import-export company, RC-GMBH.
He returned to America to live in Concord in 2001. He began teaching young professional singers. Caesar translated the libretto of Carmen from French into Spanish. He was involved with the founding of the Festival Opera Company in Walnut Creek. He helped resurrect the Martinez Opera Company. Other “retirement” projects included building a full-sized natural stone fireplace and pig roaster for his son, totally remodeling his California home (mostly by himself), and gourmet cooking and gardening.
He was widowed by his wife of 67 years, Rosemarie Antoinette Ginochio, who was a graduate of UCSF nursing school. He is survived by his four children: Gina Curzi-Czaika, Mario, John, and Paul. He had 11 grandchildren: JP (John Paul), Claudia-Antonia, William, Natascha Tatjana (deceased), Dino, Julian, Nicolai, Kiara, Alessia, Michael, and Mariella. He has 7 great-grandchildren: William Walden, Gabrielle, Elias, Emily-Rose, Livia, Gabriel, and Aurora.
There will be a celebration of life memorial on Saturday, February 18th at 175 Estates Drive in Piedmont starting at 1:30 PM.
In lieu of flowers, you can contribute to The East Bay Opera League: Caesar Curzi, Young Artist Scholarship Fund (3871 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611) a non-profit organization.