DESCRIPTION:
TIIT KUUSIK (1911-1990) was one of the leading baritones in Estonia for almost half a century. His career began in 1938 when he won the first prize at the Vienna International Competition for Singers (by singing Figaro's cavatina "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's opera "I barbieri di Siviglia"). He was immediately employed to the Vienna Volksoper. In 1944 - at the end of World War II - Kuusik returned to Estonia and became the soloist of the Estonian National Opera. He left the theatre in 1988, at the age of 77. Tiit Kuusik was highly appreciated for his dramatic and powerful voice material (perhaps comparable to Tito Gobbi). Among his most famous roles can be mentioned Rigoletto, Escamillo in "Carmen", Der Holländer (in "Der fliegende Holländer" by Wagner), Boris Godunov, Prince Igor, Miller and Aetius (in "Luisa Miller" and "Attila" by Verdi), and the Prime Minister in "Wiener blut" by Johann Strauss.