Early Career
After graduating Juilliard, he studied under Franco Bertacci, who is now Artistic Director of the Lyric Orchestra in Florida. Of Bertacci, Braswell says he was "the teacher that I give most credit to for the development of my voice." Donald was selected as one of the winners of the Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition and he performed at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.
He also received a grant from the Puccini Foundation (now The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation) where he was a sponsored artist of Mm. Licia Albanese and the Primo Tenore Franco Corelli enabling Donald to perform at the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel. He studied with "Prince of Tenors", Corelli, in NYC. He recalls that Corelli showed his students how music creates itself from within a singer.
First Columbia Artist Management and then Herber Barrett Management managed his professional engagements. During his career as a professional operatic tenor, he played many leading roles around the world, including roles such as Arturo in La Straniera by Bellini, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi by Puccini, Luigi in Il tabarro by Puccini, Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly by Puccini, Turiddu from Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni, Cavaradossi in Tosca by Puccini, Romeo in Roméo et Juliette by Gounod, Rodolfo in La Bohème by Puccini, Il Duca in Rigoletto by Verdi, Edgardo in Lucia Di Lammermoor by Donizetti, Lancelot in Le Roi Arthus by Chauson, Fritz in L'amico Fritz by Mascagni, Faust in Faust by Gounod, Don José in Carmen by Bizet, Alfredo in La traviata by Verdi, Tamino in The Magic Flute by Mozart, Andrea Chénier in Andrea Chénier by Giordano and Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore by Donizetti.
These performances took him to leading operatic theatres around the world. He was regarded as a very successful artist, earning praise from the Annuario dell'opera lirica in Italia, an annual Italian opera journal.
Donald was also a regular featured guest artist of Stephan Zucker's late night radio program in New York.
Read more about this topic: Donald Braswell II
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