110 years ago, a renowned tenor performed at the opening of a new theater on East Main Street; the theater is long gone but the singer’s grandson lives here

By Peter Finkle for Ashland.news

“I never met my grandfather, but he was here, in my town.”

— Tom Giordano

I wasn’t expecting anything interesting to happen — but it did. I was only there because I am an Ashland history nerd, one of a small group of people.

It was May 17, 2023. We were sitting outside in the hot noon sun at the Lithia Park Bandshell for the Historic Preservation Advisory Committee awards presentation.

Tom Giordano, a retired Historic Preservation Committee member, got up to say a few words. After the usual remarks, he began telling a family story. His voice broke a bit with emotion, as Tom told us his father Mario Giordano never spoke of Tom’s grandfather.

So Tom didn’t know — until recently — that his grandfather Salvatore Giordano was a world-renowned opera singer.

Now we get to what made me perk up and get excited. Not only did Tom find out that his grandfather sang with the New York Grand Opera Company. He also learned that the opera company toured the West Coast in 1914.

Here’s the Ashland opera star connection. His grandfather sang here, in Ashland, on May 14, 1914! It was a major event: opening night of the new Vining Theatre on East Main Street. The Vining, which seated about 800 people, was located at the corner of East Main and First streets, where Chase Bank is now.

Here’s what the Ashland Tidings had to say on May 11, 1914, three days before the opening: “The social feature of the week will be the opening of the new Vining Theatre. The social matrons and buds are looking forward with great pleasure to Thursday night. Ashland’s elect will be out in all the glory to be mustered in for the occasion. The presentation of the famous opera of ‘Faust’ will delight all music lovers.” Even Minkler’s Cloak and Suit House shop featured the opening of Vining Theatre in one of its ads.

See if you recognize some of the names of Ashland “buds” (movers and shakers) who secured box seats for opening night at the Vining: E.V. Carter, H.G. Enders, Glen (Gwin) Butler, George Purvis, C.H. Vaupel, Charles Christenson, D. Perozzi, C.F. Bates, J.R. Casey, Emil Peil, McNair Bros., B.R. Greer, W.Y. Crowson, as well as Mayor Johnson and guests of Robert Vining.

Salvatore Giordano, Tom’s grandfather, was born in Caronia, Sicily in 1879. Little is known of his early life. He made his opera debut in 1906 at the Teatro Andronico in Taranto, southern Italy. During the next five years, his career took off and he performed in many European countries. He must have been a major star.

Between 1909 and 1911, Berlin recording companies issued 38 records of Salvatore singing opera by Verdi, Rossini, Puccini and many others. One of his January 1909 recordings on the Anker label included the aria “Salve, dimora casta e pura,” sung by the character Faust from the opera “Faust.” This was the role he sang May 14, 1914 in Ashland — but I am getting ahead of the story.

Salvatore moved to the United States in 1911. Here is how Salvatore’s grandson Tom described the break in the family: “Salvatore Giordano’s children (Tom’s father, Mario, and four siblings) were from the Naples region. Salvatore moved to the United States and never returned to his family in Italy. Salvatore’s life was complicated. Amid the mass migration of the world wars, Salvatore’s descendants moved to the United States. Three of them settled into my grandmother’s three-story house, one floor for each family, in Boston, Massachusetts.”

Tom remembers when, as a little boy, he used to sit in the enormous pots and pans in the kitchen and watch the adults cook classic Italian dishes while his cousins sang arias. Sadly, no one in the family ever spoke of the famous opera singer, who seems to have never lived with them. He was simply a ghost in their midst and the inspiration for their arias.

Based in New York, Salvatore sang throughout the United States during the next few years for the New York Grand Opera Company and the Aborn Grand Opera Company. Here is a list of the cities where Salvatore sang during his spring 1914 tour of “Faust,” which played in Ashland on May 14: they visited New Bern, Charlotte, Ellensburg, Raleigh, Savannah, Spartanburg, Greenwood, Arkansas City, Rocky Ford, Asheville, Coffeyville, Laramie (first grand opera ever heard in Laramie!), Ogden, Springfield, Lodi (California), San Diego, Ashland, Medford, Salem, Stockton, Tacoma, Aberdeen (Washington), Butte, Spokane, Missoula, Dickinson, Bismarck.

He must have enjoyed his brief visit to Southern Oregon, for he was back here in the spring of 1915. The Andrews family of Medford included several accomplished singers. They formed an Andrews Opera Company, and for their spring 1915 performances they hired Salvatore as the lead tenor. The group performed to full houses at towns throughout Northern California and Oregon. Apparently, Salvatore left the company in April to return to New York for a recording session with Victor records.

Salvatore’s last performances seems to have been in New York and Chicago during the year 1917. He was still young, only 38 years of age, yet he dropped out of the historical record at that point. We are left with these mysteries:

• Did he ever sing again? We don’t know.
• Was Salvatore Giordano a protégé of opera great Enrico Caruso, as the advertising for his Ashland performance said? We don’t know.
• Did Salvatore record opera for Victor records in 1915? We don’t know.
• After 1917, did he go back to Italy or stay in the United States? We don’t know.
• When did he die and where is he buried? We don’t know.

I will conclude with a touching story from his grandson Tom Giordano. “It was my dad and mom’s 40th anniversary. This was when I lived in Santa Barbara, California. There was a really big Italian restaurant in Santa Barbara. I knew the owners well, so I asked for a special area in the restaurant for my dad’s anniversary. My dad’s sister and our family friends came for the dinner. The owners invited a concertina player to provide music during dinner.

“The rest of the restaurant was full of other patrons. After dinner, my dad got up and talked to the concertina player, who began playing one of the old Neapolitan serenades. My dad stood up and started to sing, a love song to my mother. I had never heard him sing before! At first his singing was a little ‘crackly’ or out of practice. But once he got going, he started to really sing. All of a sudden, the restaurant full of patrons stopped talking. Right at the end of the song was a big crescendo, and he hit it — unbelievable! There was a moment of quiet when he stopped, then all of the people in the whole restaurant stood up and started clapping.”

In some mysterious way, this song seems to me a tribute to Tom’s father Mario’s missing father Salvatore, as well as a moment that knit many Giordano generations together.

Peter Finkle gives Ashland history and art walking tours. See WalkAshland.com for walking tour information, or to request a private tour for your group or family.

May 18: In a photo caption, corrected date Salvatore Giordano performed at Ashland’s Vining Theatre, and the date an ad appeared in the Ashland Tidings.