Michael Kelly (Tenor)

Michael Kelly, also O'Kelly or Italianized Signor Ochelli ( born December 25, 1762, Dublin, † October 9, 1826 in Margate ), was an Irish actor, tenor, composer and theater manager. He worked together with Richard Sheridan and was a friend and billiard partner of Mozart. He knew Joseph Haydn, Antonio Salieri and Giovanni Paisiello

After careful training and musical stage debut in Dublin from 1779 to 1783 Kelly went to Italy, where he completed his education. In Naples, he was asked to sing at the court and witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius of 1779. 1783 bis 1787 he stayed in Austria, then back in the UK. Main source for his life have incurred with the help of Theodore Hook in 1826 published Reminiscences, an entertaining but factually not always reliable memoirs.