Kipras Petrauskas | |
Birth Name: | Ciprijonas Petrauskas |
Birth Date: | 5 December 1885 |
Birth Place: | Ceikiniai, Sventsyany uezd, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire |
Death Place: | Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union |
Nationality: | Lithuanian |
Occupation: | Operatic tenor |
Years Active: | 1911–1958 |
Alma Mater: | Saint Petersburg Conservatory |
Spouse: | Elena Žalinkevičaitė-Petrauskienė |
Children: | Leonas "Luka" Petrauskas Guoda Petrauskaitė Aušra Petrauskaitė |
Parents: | Jonas Petrauskas Juozapota Rastenytė |
Kipras Petrauskas (December 5, 1885 as Ciprijonas Petrauskas – January 17, 1968) was a Lithuanian and Soviet operatic tenor (created around 80 roles), professor, and Lithuanian Association of Artists member. The national opera foundation is associated with him.[1] [2] [3] He was married to Elena Žalinkevičaitė-Petrauskienė.[4] In 1942, he was asked to hide a Jewish baby girl, Dana Pomeranz, which he and his wife agreed to do.[5] To hide the girl better, he and his wife left the city, moving first to a Lithuanian village, and later to Austria and then Germany. In 1947, they came back to Lithuania, found Dana's parents, and gave her back to them.
In 1999, Petrauskas and his wife were recognized by Yad Vashem as two of the Righteous Among the Nations.
Kipras Petrauskas made his first recordings for Vox (Berlin 1922), then Odeon (1926 and 1928) and finally Columbia (Vilnius, ca. 1933).