Alberto Della Pergola

Alberto della Pergola, Sephardic cantor of Italian origin, one of the founders of the Bucharest Opera. In the 1910s he served at the Cahal Grande Great Spanish Temple and taught at the Royal Music Academy in Bucharest, where his son, Luciano Della Pergola, and his future daughter-in-law, Edith Della Pergola would later study (both became great opera singers). Appointed Chief Cantor from the early age of 25, della Pergola gave numerous concerts all over the country. Besides religious music he also sang opera arias as well as Romanian romance songs and Neapolitan chansonettes. During World War I he was invited by George Enescu to join a musical troupe that gave concerts for the benefit of wounded soldiers. He died of a heart attack one year after the arson of the Great Spanish Temple. (Extracted from "Tales and Traces of Sephardic Bucharest", Felicia Waldman and Anca Tudorancea, 2016.