Tenor Alessandro Bonci was born in Cesena, Rimini, Italy in 1870. He originally intended to become a bootmaker but instead won a small scholarship to the Pesaro Conservatory to study voice. He later continued his vocal studies in Paris. His operatic debut came in 1896 in Parma as Fenton in Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff. He later sang the opening night performance at Oscar Hammerstein’s opera house in New York City. Soon after this, he debuted at the Metropolitan Opera House also in New York. He sang there a total of 65 times. After World War I, he spent most of his time teaching in Milan. Bonci most excelled in bel canto roles and is best remembered as the only legitimate contemporary rival to the great tenor Enrico Caruso.