When I saw the admirable restoration of the "rich scene" by painter Domenico Bruschi, curated by Fondazione Carla Fendi for the Teatro Caio Melisso, it seemed appropriate, indeed necessary, to think to un'Opera opera from represent in those marvelous "wings" brought to light with such skill. Domenico Cimarosa'sSecret Marriage seemed to me the idealOpera for that stage and set.

Ivor Bolton, a brilliant conductor, was chosen to lead the Orchestra of Bari's Petruzzelli Theater, and Alessio Vlad, with his usual care and attention, selected a Singing Company formed from young talents.

The direction and scenic setting are entrusted to to Quirino Conti. Piero Tosi returns to work and has created sublime costumes for the occasion.

This staging will be the first of a project to use Caio Melisso in next years to host a rare 18th-century opera repertoire that befits the characteristics of this theater, which stands out as a precious jewel in the panorama of Italian theaters.

George Ferrara

On Dec. 26, 1955, Domenico Cimarosa's The Secret Marriage, opened to Milan's Little Scala.

Thus began one of the most inspiring musical seasons in our history.

In that hall, which, leaving a void that has never been filled, is no longer there today, the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century as well as the modern and contemporary repertoire found an ideal home.

It is no coincidence, then, that today we are staging that same title in the renovated, thanks to the generosity of Carla Fendi, Teatro Caio Melisso, which, in its new guise opens for the first time toOpera.

And that Opera!

Everyone knows the story of the huge success of the first performance such from that Emperor Leopold II, after inviting everyone to lunch, asked, or rather ordered, that the 'opera from chief be repeated: perhaps the longest encore in history.

Evidently the work responded in every way to the taste of the time, perfectly interpreting its moods.

Social values and hierarchies, to unlike Mozart, were untouched, the egalitarianism necessary for the plot to unfold is foreign to any ideological suggestion, and the story fully reflects the climate that dominated Viennese society in the 1790s.

In this respect, the reasons for the outcome of the first performance appear crystal clear: the Viennese audience of the time after the waning of utopias demanded from the 'opera buffa basically a reassuring entertainment.

But what appears to be absolutely extraordinary is how this masterpiece, beloved even from Stendhal, to unlike so many other operas that were unconditionally successful at the time, remains a masterpiece even today, indeed as such it has always been received, having remained uninterruptedly always in the repertoire.

The perfect synthesis of pathos, melancholy and comedy, of the comic and the grotesque, which, combined with a bursting vitalism, set the tone for the action, remains highly topical and of a value that transcends any eighteenth-century stylistic and convention, thus becoming one of the absolute symbols of Italianopera buffa.

Alessio Vlad

Inevitably, as time passes sooner or later music comes to to pervade every space of sensibility. Since nothing is more expressive, sincere and moving. More immaterial. And it often happens to me, to a concert or to a performance d'opera, to scrutinize the orchestral players, chorus and singers, as if they belonged to to a different condition, redeemed from every limit. I cannot to take my eyes off from that humanity, which appears to me saved from the risk of irrelevance. Origin of an expression that, in a privileged language, spills over the viewers like a revelation. Instead of words that, in solitude, would not know how to say anything more profound and sincere.

This is how I approached to Cimarosa's Secret Marriage. Like to a cipher language, to an extraordinary word that I was being asked to represent for those who chose to hear it.

All these years, for my work, I have lived with images, filled my eyes with them: but come to this appointment, nothing seemed more effective and contemporary than the very substance of music. With the telling of those events: suspended from reality and in an objective poetic condition. Truly the ultimate liturgy of this modernity, when on stage - each in his or her own role and within the indications of the score -, what is being told becomes almost absolute. And totally human.

So I wanted to tell The Secret Marriage, as we received it from a meteorite, from another world. Which of course is not only the eighteenth century, but that place of the soul where eternally identical, unchanging feelings are repeated. Always so surprising.

Quirino Conti

The costume is the husk of a character; its depiction, the result of a complex aesthetic elaboration.

The project always starts from a face: it is from there, in fact, that the character begins to to emerge. from an expression. Then from a style of dress. Right down to posture and bearing.

And in this case, then, what eighteenth century? Always, to Spoleto, with Visconti, for Manon, the eighteenth century of costumes told one reinterpreted from Favretto in a very late nineteenth century!

And even for The Secret Marriage the dates chase each other, slip, each postponing to another: 1792, the first performance ofopera; 1766, the year of publication of The Clandestine Mariage, the play by Colman and Garrick to to which Cimarosa explicitly refers; then, to backwards, Le Mariage à la Mode, the cycle made from Hogarth and popularized as engravings in 1745. And then that 1786: The Marriage of Figaro, still to Vienna, at the Burgtheater...

With Quirino Conti asking me about characters as "exquisite objects," before anything else the fixed scene of the theater was kept in mind: that magnificent scene that recent restorations have from little returned to us. So, the scene and the Music. And on that livid pink that is the tone of the backdrop, figures and characters are outlined.

Elizabeth and Caroline, the two sisters, interchangeable in their polonaises dated around 1770: in three shades of pink, as if they were bonbons. Signor Geronimo, in a very démodé tailcoat between 1710 and 1720, wears a late seventeenth-early eighteenth-century wig. And Aunt Fidalma, flamboyant in the 1760-70 military-style caraco. Count Robinson, on the other hand, is a very modern London incroyable, perfectly 1790s. Paolino, finally, is all black. Almost as if he were an abbot or a tutor.

Piero Tosi

TRAMA Paolino and Carolina, in the throes of their tender and passionate love, contract marriage in secret and amidst anxieties and subterfuges adore each other without being able to belong to each other. Paolino would like to persuade his secret bride to elope: however, she hesitates, though distressed from a thousand sorrows. Around the two lovers moves a small crowd of characters: Geronimo, Carolina's father, a deaf, stingy and wealthy merchant and Paolino's master; Count Robinson, a wealthy English suitor; Elisetta, Carolina's sister, destined in marriage by her father to Count Robinson, temperamentally spiteful, ambitious, harsh and malignant; Aunt Fidalma, a wealthy widow who has invested her capital in her brother Geronimo's enterprises, also taken from a burning passion for young Paolino. The plot becomes pleasantly entangled in the course ofopera: Count Robinson, who according to Paolino's plans should marry Elisetta, as soon as he sees Carolina falls in love with the latter, and of the other he wants no more. Geronimo protests, but Robinson offers him to give up to half the dowry if he grants him Carolina's hand instead of Elisetta's hand. Elisetta's anger and Fidalma's amorous declarations to Paolino complicate matters even more, so the two decide to elope. However, the escape fails, since everything is discovered, but fortunately everything works out in a happy ending.

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IVOR BOLTON

Ivor Bolton became Principal Conductor of the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra in 2004. He was Music Director of the English Touring Opera in 1991/1992, Music Director of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera from 1992 to 1997, Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 1994 to 1996, and was the founding music director of the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music and the St James's Baroque Players in London.

Since his debut in 1994, Ivor Bolton has been in close relationship with theOpera Bavarian State in Munich, which he has directed in numerous new productions, including a review of works by Monteverdi and Händel. to November 1998 he received the prestigious Bayerische Theaterpreis from the Prime Minister of Bavaria.

Ivor Bolton made his Covent Garden debut in 1995 and has a long association with Glyndebourne. Other operatic engagements in the UK have taken him to conducting the English National Opera, the Welsh National Opera andOpera North.

He made his Salzburg Festival debut in 2000 with Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride and from has returned there every year since, conducting three Mozart operas in 2006, Mozart's Year of Mozart, Haydn's Armida in 2007, Theodora at the 2009 Festival (recently released on DVD), Le Rossignol/Iolanta in 2011, and Das Labyrinth in 2012. In the rest of Europe, he performs regularly at the Maggio Musicale in Florence and other major halls from concert to Paris, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, Geneva, Dresden, Leipzig and Madrid. Operatic engagements outside Europe have taken him to to San Francisco, Sydney and Buenos Aires, among other cities.

Ivor Bolton has collaborated with many of the UK's leading symphony orchestras, as well as with major orchestras around the world. Concert engagements in recent seasons include: Vienna, Salzburg Festival, New York, Boston, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Paris, Florence, Milan, Rotterdam, WDR in Cologne, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester in Hamburg, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecelia in Rome, Händel's Athalia with Concerto Köln to New York, Paris and London, and the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra, with whom he conducted Beethoven's 9th Symphony to New Year's Eve 2005/2006. He made his Proms debut in 1993, conducting Bach's La Passione secondo Giovanni in 2000 and the Mozarteumorchester in 2006.

Recent and future operatic engagements include: Die Zauberflöte and Alceste for the Wiener Staatsoper, Orfeo at Theater an der Wien, Der Fliegende Hollönder and Von Winter's Das Labyrinth to Salzburg, Peter Grimes to Dresden, Iphigenie en Tauride at Covent Garden and to Paris, Tamerlano at Covent Garden and to Munich, Cavalli's Hercules Amante, Billy Budd, Deidamia and Armida for the Netherlands Opera, Jenufa and Alceste for the Teatro Real in Madrid, Entführung to Barcelona and Munich, Le Nozze di Figaro, Medea in Corinth and Mitridate to Munich, Il ritorno d'Ulisse and Rinaldo to Zurich and Alceste at the Aix Festival. His recent and future concert engagements include performances with the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg and tours around the world. Guest engagements include: Netherlands Philharmonic, NDR Hamburg, Hamburg Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Kölner Philharmonie, RAI Torino, Bergen Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Orchestre de chambre de Genève, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Danish National Radio Symphony, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Royal Northern College of Music, and performances at the Spoleto, Dresden and Salzburg Festivals.

His numerous recordings with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg include Bruckner's Symphonies Nos. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, Berlioz's L'enfance du Christ, Haydn's The Creation and The Seasons, as well as to a wide Mozart repertoire, while other recordings include Xerxes, Ariodante and Poppea to Munich.

PETRUZZELLI THEATER ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS

The Petruzzelli Theater Orchestra and Chorus were formed at the end of 2012, to following the Public Competition for examinations announced by the Apulian Opera Foundation. Daniele Rustioni, the Petruzzelli Foundation's newly appointed music director, has taken over conducting the new ensembles; Franco Sebastiani is the Chorus Master. The very young orchestral professors and chorus masters, who have won unanimous acclaim from audiences and critics, earning the enthusiastic appreciation of the Conductors who have already led them, will tackle challenging symphonic, operatic and ballet programs in the Petruzzelli Theater's 2013 Season, conducted from by masters of international stature: Daniele Rustioni, Asher Fisch, Tonino Battista, Daniel Kawka, Pascal Rophé, Marco Angius, Jonathan Webb, Renato Rivolta, Francesco Lanzillotta, Fabio Maestri, Corrado Rovaris, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Alain Guingal, Roberto Abbado, Carlo Rizzari, Daniele Callegari, Boris Gruzin.

QVIRINO CONTI
"The most intellectual and eclectic of Stylists" - as Natalia Aspesi called him - lives divergent and parallel lives with a constant commute between fashion, architecture, theater and cinema. He is very young, still in high school, when Orson Welles asks him to design the costumes for his Don Quixote. Then, while studying architecture (he graduated to Rome with Bruno Zevi), he discovered haute couture in the Carosa atelier of Princess Giovanna Caracciolo and made his debut in cinema with Alberto Lattuada. As a fashion designer he collaborated with the most prestigious international industrial groups: for Valentino he was in charge of the presentations of haute couture and prêt-à-poter collections, first to Rome and then to Paris, and as creative director he signed highly successful collections for Krizia, Trussardi and Valentino. For his essay-cult Never the World Will Know. Conversations on Fashion published from Feltrinelli and for his numerous journalistic collaborations (La Repubblica, L'Espresso, Dagospia, MF), he is credited with a valuable critical role.
(from Dictionary of Fashion, Baldini Castoldi Dalai)

He is the author of major theatrical productions, including a highly celebrated Falstaff with Ruggero Raimondi at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva; Vincenzo Cerami's Socrates for the Piccolo Teatro di Milano-Teatro Strehler, directed and starring from Gigi Proietti with music by Oscar winner Nicola Piovani; Benvenuto Cellini and Mozart operas for the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome: Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte-Il flauto magico, with the artistic collaboration of Fendi (the last two replicated for the Estate Romana in Piazza del Popolo with eighty thousand spectators for Don Giovanni and over one hundred and fifty thousand for Die Zauberflöte).

to Spoleto, for Fondazione Carla Fendi conceived and directed Theatre Minute: presentation of the restoration of the Historical Curtains of the Teatro Caio Melisso Spazio Carla Fendi, with the extraordinary participation of Peppe Barra in a costume specially created by the great Piero Tosi and the cultured narration of Philippe Daverio (55th Festival dei Due Mondi, July 2012).

PIERO TOSI

Creator of unforgettable clothes, Piero Tosi is among the most recognized Italian costume designers of theater and cinema, capable of reconstructing with antiquarian taste and fantastic invention the atmosphere and costume of an era, summing up creativity, genius and deep passion in his work. Trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence under Ottone Rosai, he began his career in 1947 with the play Il candeliere by Alfred de Musset under the direction of Franco Enriquez, later working as assistant to Maria de Matteis on the costumes for W. Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida directed by Luchino Visconti. He was from then a valuable collaborator of Visconti, enhancing his philological realism, passion for detail and accessory, and adapting to the different requirements of his directing (for the theater Zio Vanja, 1955; Macbeth, 1958; Dommage qu'elle soit une p..., 1961; for film Senso, 1954; Le notti bianche, 1957; Il gattopardo, 1963; La caduta degli dei, 1969; Morte to Venezia, 1971; Ludwig, 1972; L'innocente, 1976). In theater he has worked with Zeffirelli(Lulu, 1950; Euridice, 1960) and Enriquez(Beatrice di Tenda, 1959), among others; in film with Bolognini(Il bell'Antonio, 1960; Arabella, 1967), Fellini(Tre passi nel delirio, Toby Dammitt episode, 1968), Cavani(Il portiere di notte, 1974; La pelle, 1981), Zeffirelli(Storia di una capinera, 1993) and Amelio(Le chiavi di casa, 2004).

Described from Franco Zeffirelli as one of the last survivors of a world that is no more, Piero Tosi brings his art to Spoleto back to the stage after several years in which he had devoted himself mainly to teaching.

VINICIO CHELI

Graduating in 1973 from the school of set design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, from 1974 to 1979 he worked at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino collaborating to all productions. From 1979 to 1989 he participated in the productions of Piccolo in Milan where he was Streheler's lighting collaborator. He has worked for the Rossini Opera Festival since 1987 and for the Salzburg Festival since 1989 where he produced several shows. Among the many prestigious productions in which he has worked: in 1990 he collaborated on the opening of L'Opera Bastille and the following year he was at the Aix En Provance Festival with Castor and Pollux; in 1992 he worked on the staging of Rudolf Nureyev's last ballet Baiadera atOpera Garnier in Paris; he then collaborated with Ronconi(Falstaff, 1993; Otello, 1994) and with Grüber(Erwartung, 1995; Otello, 1996); in 1998 he worked on the stagings of Parsifal for the National Reis Opera, Aida for the reopening of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Lucrezia Borgia with Hugo de Hana for La Scala, Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan in New York; in 1999 he staged La Forza del Destino and Manon at La Scala, inaugurated the Salzburg Easter Festival with Tristan, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona with Turandot and the d'Opera season at La Scala in Milan with Fidelio directed by W. Herzoc; in 2001 he collaborated with Zeffirelli inAida at Teatro Verdi di Busseto, with Carl Philip von Maldeghem in Simon Boccanegra at Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, with Nicolà Joel in Das Rheingold, Otello and Mignon at Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse. For the past ten years, he has carried on a close collaboration with the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and the Teatro Real in Madrid and has also staged numerous other operas, including, Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome with Gigi Proietti, Le Roi de Lahore and Luisa Miller at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice with to. Bernard, Peter Grimes at Teatro Liceu in Barcelona with L. Pasqual, Traviata at Teatro Comunale in Florence with Cristina Comencini, Thais at Teatro Megaron in Athens with to. Bernard, La donna del lago at the Garnier Theatre in Paris with L. Pasqual, Boris Godunov at the Teatro Regio in Turin with to. Konchalovsky. He also staged: Senso a new opera opera written for the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Tosca and Der fliegende Holländer atOpera in Beijing directed by Giancarlo Del Monaco; Medea at the Syros Festival of Aegean directed by Theodorakis; The Sleeping Beauty ballet inaugurating the reopening of the closed Bolshoi Theater in Moscow from more than two decades; The Kindhearted Gruff at the Teatro Liceu in Barcelona directed by Irina Brook; Ballo in Maschera in 2012 atOpera in Beijing with Hugo de Ana.

Vinicio Cheli has taught lighting engineering at the New Academy of Fine Arts Milan and the Professional School of La Scala.

BARBARA BARGNESI Soprano

Extremely versatile, the young Genoese soprano soon established herself on the Italian opera scene by successfully performing Carolina in Il Matrimonio Segreto conducted from F. Pasqualetti, Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera conducted from R. Palumbo and Despina in Così fan tutte at the Teatro Regio di Torino conducted from C. Franklin.

Noteworthy was her Italian Singer in R. Strauss' Capriccio atOpera Garnier in Paris with P. Jordan conducting and R. Carsen directing.

She enjoyed personal success in her debut as Gilda in Rigoletto at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, which was reconfirmed as such at the Royal Opera House in Muskat (Oman), at the Massa Marittima Summer Festival, and at the Teatro Regio in Turin, where she returned for Marzelline in Fidelio.

She is Dircea in N. Jommelli's Demofoonte to Salzburg, Opera Garnier in Paris and at the Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna under the baton of R. Muti, who will also conduct her in La Betulia Liberata, Cabri role, at the Salzburg Festival and Ravenna Festival.

She is Nannetta in Falstaff atOpera in Bern, at the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, at Teatro Farnese in Parma production of Teatro Regio di Parma, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro in Circuito Lombardo, at PAC in Milan she plays Bastienne in Bastien und Bastienne by W. to. Mozart.

She returned to the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa as Primo Orfano in Der Rosenkavalier and Lisa in La Sonnambula , which she also performed at the Teatro G. Verdi in Salerno, Italy, where she enjoyed flattering success as Zerlina in Don Giovanni conducted by from D. Oren.

Her Teatro alla Scala debut was with Giannetta in L'Elisir d'Amore under the baton of D. Renzetti.

At Teatro Comunale di Bologna she is Ilia in Idomeneo conducted from M. Mariotti, with performances at Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, Teatro Comunale di Modena, Teatro Dante Alighieri di Ravenna, and Teatro Municipale di Reggio Emilia.

She is Vittoria in Tutti in Maschera by C. Pedrotti, a production ofOpera Giocosa di Savona at the Teatro Sociale di Rovigo, Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice and Servilla in La Clemenza di Tito atOpera Giocosa di Savona, and the soprano in Amor Scioglie i Pregiudizi by F. Gnecco at the Church of San Martino to Genova.

Intense is his concert activity and collaboration with prestigious orchestras.

She undertook her musical studies at the Conservatorio "N. Paganini" in Genoa and later attended the Accademia Rossiniana, thanks to which she performed the role of Corinna in Il Viaggio to Reims as part of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, where she returned with Euridice in Adelaide di Borgogna and Elvira in L'Italiana in Algeri.

EMANUELE D'AGUANNO Tenor

He completed his musical studies at the Conservatorio "to.Pedrollo" in Vicenza and is currently specializing with William Matteuzzi and Ramon Vargas.

After distinguishing himself at the "Toti dal Monte" competition in Treviso (Paolino in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto ), he immediately began an intense activity that quickly led him to perform in many prestigious theaters in Italy and abroad.

He debuted in operas by Purcell ( Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas), Paisiello (Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Mozart (Contino Belfiore in La finta giardiniera, Agenore in Il re pastore, Ferrando in Così fan tutte), Cimarosa (Paolino in Il matrimonio segreto), Rossini (Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ramiro in La Cenerentola), Donizetti (Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, Ernesto in Don Pasquale), Britten (Lysander in to midsummer night's dream), Wagner (Shepherd and Sailor in Tristan und Isolde).

In 2004 he was a finalist for the role of Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, at the 55th As.Li.Co. Competition. The following year he made his debut at the 31st Festival della Valle D'Itria in Martina Franca in Cherubini's Lo sposo di tre e marito di nessuno (Don Martino) directed from Dimitri Jurowskj. Next he is at the Stadttheater in Klagenfurt where he sings Arturo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. The following year he sings Edmondo in Puccini's Manon Lescaut at the Regio in Turin directed by Jean Reno, and in February he is Filipeto in Wolf-Ferrari's Quatro rusteghi at the Fenice in Venice.

At the Teatro Municipale in Piacenza, in October 2006 he was Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte with the Fondazione Toscanini in Parma, and at the Stadttheater in Klagenfurt he plays Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore.

He returned to the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Wolf-Ferrari's La vedova scaltra, and to May 2007 he made his debut at the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. He then reprises the roles of Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Fenton in Falstaff in the theaters of Pavia, Como, Brescia and Cremona for two consecutive seasons.

He finally debuted to Frankfurt as Cavalier Belfiore in Rossini's Viaggio to Reims.

Notable engagements in recent seasons include: Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore directed from Campanella and Die Frau ohne schatten directed from Mehta at Comunale di Firenze, L'elisir d'amore at Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Lucrezia Borgia directed by Christoph Loy, Der Rosenkavalier (Italian Tenor), Turandot (Pong) directed from Zubin Mehta, Così fan tutte (Ferrando) to Munich, Salieri's Il mondo alla rovescia at the Filarmonico in Verona, Verdi's Otello (Cassio) at the Canadian Opera in Toronto, Hasse's Piramo e Tisbe with Europa Galante conducted from Fabio Biondi at the Whitsun Festival in Salzburg and to Montpellier, Don Pasquale (Ernesto) at the Olimpico in Vicenza and Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio) to Glyndebourne, the world premiere of Tutino's Senso directed by Hugo De Ana at the Massimo in Palermo, Manon Lescaut at the Opéra de Montpellier, Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and at the Theater an der Wien, Mayr's Medea in Corinto (Egeo) directed from Ivor Bolton at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Il matrimonio segreto (Paolino) at the Regio in Turin.

Among his next engagements: Macbeth, Turandot, Lucrezia Borgia and Lucia di Lammermoor at the Bayerische Strastoper in Munich, La Traviata at the Glyndebourne Festival, Lucia di Lammermoor at the New York Metropolitan.

TERESA IERVOLINO Mezzo-soprano

She was born to Bracciano (Rm) on May 14, 1989, and already from child showed an interest in music and at the age of 8 began to studying piano, earning her lower degree.

Subsequently attracted byopera she decided to devote herself to opera singing, continuing in parallel the study of piano and alongside that of composition.

In 2007, she was admitted to the "D.Cimarosa" Conservatory of Avellino where she received her singing diploma in 2011 with highest honors and subsequently perfected her skills with a series of masterclasses held from Marco Berti, Domenico Colajanni, Alfonso Antoniozzi, Daniela Barcellona, Bernadette Manca Di Nissa, Bruno Nicoli and Stefano Giannini.

She began as early as 2008 to perform in a series of opera-symphony concerts in the Campania region. In November 2011 she performed as mezzo-soprano in the concert-conference to curated by Vincenzo Ramon Bisogni held at the Piccolo teatro to Florence in collaboration with the Foyer and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. In 2010 she is the winner of the third prize in the "Città di Ravello" international opera competition. In 2012, she is the winner of the 63rd Young Opera Singers of Europe 2012 ASLICO competition, and following the ASLICO victory she performs in various performances of the Lombard Circuit.

In 2012, she was the winner of the First Prize at the "City of Bologna" International Opera Competition and the "Gigliola Frazzoni" and "Anselmo Colzani" Special Prizes. On the occasion of the "City of Bologna" Competition, she also attends a course taught by Soprano Cinzia Forte and director Francesco Micheli.

She later won First Prize at the 2012 Salicedoro International Opera Competition, and the 2012 "Maria Caniglia" International Opera Competition, and won the 2013 As.Li.Co. for the role of Tancredi.

She made her debut at Verona's Teatro Filarmonico to May 2012 with Stravinsky's Pulcinella which was followed by those of Maddalena in Rigoletto to Chieti and Isabella in L'Italiana in Algeri to Como and Ravenna.

Her future engagements include Miss Bagott in The Little Chimney Sweep to Turin, the title role in Tancredi at the Lombard Circuit Theaters and Clarice in The Touchstone at the Théâtre du Châtelet to Paris.

OMAR MONTANARI Baritone

Born to Riccione, he graduated in opera singing from the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro under Prof. L. Macnez, later perfecting with: M. Melani, L. Gorla, W. Matteuzzi, M. Aspinall, to. Zedda, R. Kabaivanska and R. Bruson.

Winner of the 59th European Competition "to. Belli" in Spoleto, in 2000 she made her debut as Aeneas in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Pedrotti Auditorium in Pesaro.

from then sang in: Puccini's Gianni Schicchi to Cagli; Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto (Geronimo and Robinson) at the Arriaga in Bilbao and to Dordrecht, where he also performed Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Bartolo); Il Viaggio to Reims (Trombonok) at the ROF in Pesaro. to these early engagements followed immediately: Fioravanti's Le Cantatrici Villane (Don Marco) to Lecce; Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (Figaro) to Spoleto and Tokyo; Gnecco's La Prova di un'Opera Seria (Poeta Pasticci) to Kyoto; Puccini's Bohème (Schaunard), Scarlatti's La Dirindina (Don Carissimo), and Albinoni's Pimpinone (title role) and Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri (Haly) to Spoleto; Coccia's Arrighetto (Count Ludovico) at ROF Pesaro and to Novara; Una partita to chess (Renato) by Abbà Cornaglia in Alessandria; Satyricon (Eumolpo) by Maderna to Rome and to L'Aquila; Don Giovanni (Leporello) by Mozart to Bilbao; Don Pasquale (Malatesta) at Teatro della Fortuna in Fano; Elisir d'Amore (Dulcamara) to Como; Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia (Don Bartolo) to Tokyo, Messina and Doha; Mozart's Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso) to Brescia, Cremona, Como and Pavia.

He has been directed, among others, from: Giuliano Carella, Leopold Hager, Pietro Rizzo, Marcello Rota, Marcello Panni, Diego Fasolis, Carlo Palleschi, and has collaborated with directors such as: Dario Fo, Beppe de Tommasi, Ezio Toffolutti, Emilio Sagi, Giovanni Scandella, Giorgio Pressburger, Rosetta Cucchi, Ronerto Recchia, Massimo Ranieri.

Among his most recent engagements: La Cenerentola (Dandini) to Spoleto, Tokyo, Osaka, Hamamatsu, Nagoya, for the Tercas Foundation under the direction of Massimo Ranieri in Atri, Fermo and Ortona; Rossini's Il Viaggio to Reims (Don Alvaro) to Piacenza and (Trombonok) to Trento with the Toscanini Foundation and directed by Rosetta Cucchi; Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto (Geronimo) in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and to Spoleto; La Cecchina ossia la buona figliola to Sassari, Werther (Johann) at the Regio di Parma conducted from Michel Plasson, Italiana in Algeri (Haly) at the Regio di Torino, Matrimonio segreto (Conte Robinson) to Spoleto, Cenerentola (Don Magnifico) in the AsLiCo circuit and at the Municipale di Piacenza, I due Figaro (Plagio) conducted from Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Festival, the Ravenna Festival and the Colon in Buenos Aires, L'inganno felice (Tarabotto), L'occasione fa il ladro (Parmenione), La cambiale di matrimonio (Tobia Mill), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Bartolo) at Teatro La Fenice in Venice and on the AsLiCo circuit, I due Figaro (Plagio) conducted by M° Muti at the Real in Madrid, La gazza ladra (Fabrizio) to Verona, Massenet's Cleopatre at the Salzburg Festival.

Among his next engagements: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Bartolo), La scala di seta (Germano), L'inganno felice (Tarabotto) at the Fenice in Venice, Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso) to Sassari, L'elisir d'amore (Dulcamara) at the Fenice in Venice and at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome.

VALENTINA FARCAS Soprano

Born in Romania, after graduating in piano from the Musikakademie in Bukarest she took up the study of singing at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen graduating with honors. Winner of several international competitions, including "Neue Stimmen" sponsored by Bertelsmann, she began her career at the Komische Oper Berlin, where she formed her repertoire later taken up on international stages as a freelancer.

In 2006 she made her debut with enormous success at the Salzburger Festspielen as Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, a production released on DVD by DECCA.

He has worked with leading conductors such as Jeffrey Tate, Bertrand de Billy, Gerd Albrecht, Bruno Bartoletti, Kiril Petrenko, Thomas Hengelbrock, Ivor Bolton and Riccardo Muti.

Among his most important performances are from mention:

Gilda / Rigoletto to Berlin, at the Savonlinna Festival in Finland, at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the Deutsche Oper in Düsseldorf, Adele in Amsterdam, Raffaele / Haydn's Il ritorno di Tobia at the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, Susanna / Le Nozze di Figaro in Florida and, in 2011, in a new production to Lyon, Blonde to Naples and at the Mozart Festival de La Coruña, Pamina / Die Zauberflöte to Genoa, to Santiago de Chile and to Oviedo, Liù / Turandot to to Parma, Giulietta / Capuleti e Montecchi to Ravenna, Cremona and Brescia (released on DVD), Donna Farinella / Il pasticcio ovvero L'ape musicale by Mozart at Theater an der Wien conducted by Bertrand de Billy, Solveig / Grieg's Peer Gynt to Trieste, stage version conducted from Gerd Albrecht, Schubert's Die Freunde von Salamanka to Bologna, Adina / L'elisir d'Amore in Amsterdam, Musetta / La Bohème to Parma conducted from Bruno Bartoletti and to Dallas.

She also sang Ravel's Prinzessin and Nachtigall / L'enfant et les ortileges, concertante, at RAI Turin conducted from Jeffrey Tate, Zerbinetta / Ariadne auf Naxos to Bilbao, Jenny / Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagony in 2010 to Toulouse, Woglinde / Die Walküre to Bari, Asteria / Gluck's Telemaco at Theater an der Wien, Lucia di Lammermoor at Palm Beach Opera, Le Rossignol to Cagliari.

Future projects include Sophie / Der Rosenkavalier to Dresden conducted by Christian Tielemann, a new production of Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor to Lausanne, and Carmina Burana with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Valentina Farcas' concert repertoire includes theChristmas Oratorio, Bach's Passions and Magnificat , Haydn's Creation, Haendel's Messiah and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis , Mendelssohn's Lobgesang (sung in 2012 with the Rai Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Christopher Hogwood). And Mozart's Requiem, Exultate jubilate, Vespere Solemnis de Confessore, sung at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the baton of Riccardo Muti, and the Mass in C minor published on CD from Brilliant Classic.

In 2011 she sang Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream at the Vienna Musikverein conducted by Fabio Luisi; in 2012 at the Salzburger Festspielen Die Gerechtigkeit in Mozart's Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots conducted from Ivor Bolton.

DAVIDE LUCIANO Baritone

Born to Benevento into a family of musicians, he began to 8 years old studying piano, which he would later flank to with bass, percussion and guitar.

At the age of 19, spurred on by his father, he began to studying opera singing under Maestro Gioacchino Zarrelli, one of the most faithful pupils of the great Rodolfo Celletti, and parallel masterclasses with Marco Berti, Alfonso Antoniozzi, Stefano.

Giannini, Tiziana Fabbricini, Daniela Barcellona and Domenico Colaianni.

In 2012, to 24 years old, he participated in his first competition, As.Li.Co, winning in the Rookie section and debuting with them the following March as Papageno in The Magic Flute version Opera tomorrow.

In July, after participating as a full student at the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro directed by Maestro Alberto Zedda, he was chosen to play Don Profondo in Il viaggio to Reims as part of the Rossini Opera Festival.

to September won the third edition of the Santa Chiara International Opera Singing Prize to Naples obtaining the First Prize and Popular Jury Prize.

In November he took part in the Circuito Lirico Lombardo's production of L'Italiana in Algeri, which will see him perform, alternating in the roles of Haly and Taddeo, in the theaters of Pavia, Brescia, Cremona, Como, Novara and Ravenna.

His next engagements include a return to the Rossini Festival in Pesaro with the role of Haly in L'italiana in Algeri, Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Teatro Municipal in Sao Paulo, Pacuvio in Pietra del Paragone at the Theatre Chatelet in Paris, and Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Norske Opera in Oslo.

In Seasons 2013/14 and 2014/15 he will be part of the Ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

He is currently continuing his studies with Maestro Gioacchino Zarrelli.

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