Unfortunately, there is very little information on Lappas on the internet. He has become obscure. However, Lappas was regarded as one of the leading, internationally acclaimed Greek tenors of the interwar period, who influenced the opera world. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1890 and grew up in a cosmopolitan environment of the Greek diaspora. He began his musical studies at the International Conservatory of Alexandria. He continued his studies in Milan under Giuseppe Mandolini (1912-15).
Why is he important? There are two philosophies of voice teaching today: let the voice be as free as possible; and sing to an idea of the end sound. The second philosophy will attempt to manipulate the voice, through the squeezing and swallowing muscles, to have a dark sound, a bright sound, some preconceived sound that the voice should attain. The first philosophy allows the voice to be free of preconceived ideas. The voice is what it is, in a sense. Using the second philosophy, once gets a tight, usually over-darkened, small sound, usually with a wobble. The first philosophy will get you a singer such as Lappas, and for that matter, nearly all of the singers whom I post.