The Messa per Rossini is a Requiem Mass composed to commemorate the first anniversary of Gioachino Rossini's death. It was a collaboration among 13 Italian composers, initiated by Giuseppe Verdi. The composition was intended to be performed on 13 November 1869 in the Basilica of San Petronio, Bologna, where Rossini grew up and spent a large part of his life.
Hariclea Darclée was a celebrated Romanian operatic soprano who had a three-decade-long career.
Cheryl Studer is an American dramatic soprano who has sung at many of the world's foremost opera houses. Studer has performed more than eighty roles ranging from the dramatic repertoire to roles more commonly associated with lyric sopranos and coloratura sopranos, and, in her late stage, mezzo-sopranos. She is particularly known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner.
Giuseppe Patanè was an Italian opera conductor.
Ruggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer who has also appeared in motion pictures.
Teodulo Mabellini was an Italian composer.
Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is an Italian opera singer. He has been called a bass-baritone, though he prefers the term basso cantabile.
Ildikó Komlósi is a Hungarian mezzo-soprano.
Carlo Colombara is an Italian operatic bass. He has sung leading roles in many major opera houses including Teatro alla Scala ; the Vienna State Opera ; the Real Teatro di San Carlo ; the Arena di Verona ; the Royal Opera House, and the Metropolitan Opera.
Irina Iordachescu is a Romanian soprano opera singer.
Mexican tenor Jesús León is one of the most acclaimed ‘bel canto’ tenors of his generation. His vocal studies began with the Cuban tenor Jesús Li, followed by attendance at the UCLA Opera Studio, the Solti Accademia di Bel Canto, the Boston University Opera Institute and the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program at Los Angeles Opera. He also trained in Italy under the direction of legendary soprano Mirella Freni, who granted him the Nicolai Ghiaurov scholarship.
Giuseppe Filianoti is an Italian lyric tenor from Reggio Calabria.
Saimir Pirgu is an Albanian international opera singer (tenor). In 2014 he was awarded the Italian citizenship by the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano.
Giovanni Meoni is an Italian operatic baritone.
George Gagnidze is a Georgian operatic baritone specializing in the Italian dramatic repertoire. He has performed at New York's Metropolitan Opera every season since 2008/09, including playing Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto.
Michele Mariotti, born in 1979 in Urbino, near Pesaro, is an Italian conductor, the direttore musicale since 2014 of Teatro Comunale di Bologna. A graduate in composition of Pesaro's Conservatorio Rossini, where he also studied orchestral conducting, he made his professional opera debut with Il barbiere di Siviglia in Salerno on Oct. 12, 2005. As of April 2017, his repertory included nine Rossini and eight Verdi operas, an extraordinary achievement, as well as symphonies of Beethoven, Bruckner and Schubert, the Rossini Stabat mater, the Mozart Requiem and the Verdi Requiem.
Svetla Vassileva is a Bulgarian opera singer (soprano).
Carlo Montanaro is an Italian violinist and conductor. He concentrates on Italian operas from Bel canto to verismo and also conducts selected works from the French repertoire.
Maria Giovanna Agresta is an Italian operatic soprano.
Fabio Sartori is an Italian operatic tenor. He is particularly known for his interpretations of Italian roles by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and of the Verismo.
