Minoo Golvala, an opera singer who was called ‘Mario Lanza of Bombay’, passed away in London on Friday. He was 88.
Born into a Parsi household in 1936 in Mumbai, Golvala, who studied at St Xavier’s College, was awarded a scholarship to the Conservatory in Rome at age 18. He then went on to train at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama under legendary Welsh tenor Parry-Jones.
“It can be said that with a little more experience, he can flower into an admirable light tenor,” wrote a music critic in TOI in February 1965, sizing up a performance by Golvala at a show organised in Mumbai by noted accordionist Goody Seervai along with the Time and Talents Club, a 1934-born non-profit then predominantly made up of Parsi women. Later, Golvala appeared in various British TV shows. “He had been ailing for some time,” said Roger Pereira, who studied with him in St Xavier’s College.
