Operatic tenor Marcelo Alvarez is a native of Cordoba, Argentina, and achieved international success in the late '90s, becoming one of opera's great success stories. Alvarez went to college in Argentina while working in a furniture factory, and studied singing as a hobby in his spare time. It took Alvarez's wife to finally persuade him to pursue singing as a career and they moved first to Buenos Aires and then Italy. Shortly after his arrival in Italy, Alvarez had his first big break, performing as an understudy for the opening-night production of +La Traviata; since that time he has performed throughout the world. Alvarez has released two compact discs on Sony Classical. His debut Bel Canto featured a collection of popular Italian tenor arias from +La Traviata, +Rigoletto, +Lucia di Lammermoor, and +L'Elisir d'Amore. His second album, Sings Carlos Gardel, pays tribute to the Argentine tangos of singer and composer Carlos Gardel. ~ Al Campbell, Rovi