David Poleri was born on January 10, 1921, in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania and made his debut in Chicago with the San Carlo Opera Company in 1950, singing Faust and the Duke of Mantua. He also sang Alvaro in "Forza" in 1951 and 1955 Edinburgh Festivals and Riccardo in "Ballo in Maschera" at Covent Garden in 1956. In addition to Michele, a role he created in "the Saint of Bleeker Street" on Broadway, he also sang it at LaScala and also appeared there in Walton's Troilus and Cressida." In 1954 he sang Gherman in "Pique Dame" for Florence and also was seen in Tchaikovsky's "The Maid of Orleans." He sang Alfredo for Houston Grand Opera in 1957 and later appeared with the American Opera Society in a performance of Gluck's "Paride ed Elena" at Town Hall.
The tenor appeared on the Ed Sulllivan Show in 1948, and as the Voice of Caruso in the Warner Brothers film "Pay or Die" starring Ernest Borgnine, with music by David Raksin. Poleri appeared in fou