Luca Pisaroni

Last updated

Luca Pisaroni (born 1975) is an Italian operatic bass-baritone, known for his roles in Mozart's operas, but who has steadily expanded his repertoire into the Baroque as well as moving beyond into Rossini.

Contents

Early life

Although born in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, Pisaroni's family moved to Busseto in Italy – the home of Giuseppe Verdi — when he was four years old. There, his father owned a car-repair firm and his mother was a teacher; [1] it was in that town where he noted "you feel Verdi's spirit all over the place!" [2] and where his love of opera began.

Musical studies and training

In Busseto, he states that "as a kid, I used to go to the opera with my grandfather, and when I was 11, I already knew I wanted to be an opera singer." While not actually attending the musical academy run by the famous local tenor Carlo Bergonzi—he listened-in to his master classes after school— Pisaroni was influenced by the tenor:

I did not technically train with Bergonzi, because I was too young. I sang for him when I was 13 or 14 and he told me to wait until my voice would change and I would be able to start singing. While I did not technically work with him, I listened to his teaching almost every afternoon, and this really taught me a lot in terms of diction, phrasing and how to use your voice to communicate to an audience. I consider him one of my teachers because of that. The way he sang, phrased and used his instrument was unbelievable. His approach on singing was unique and made him one of the best Verdi tenors. [2]

He began his training at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, where he was not comfortable, [1] and so continued his studies for a year in Buenos Aires with Renato Sassola and Rozita Zozulya, and also in New York.

Singing career

After his musical training in Milan, Buenos Aires and New York, Pisaroni's professional operatic debut was in the title role of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro in Klagenfurt, in 2001. That same year, he was awarded the Eberhard-Wächter-Medal as "Newcomer of the Season" by the Vienna State Opera. [3] [4] Pisaroni sang Masetto at the 2002 Salzburg Festival in Mozart's Don Giovanni . These early appearances led to engagements throughout the world in the major Mozart operas.

Pisaroni has since appeared in major opera houses and festivals across Europe and America. In 2002, he debuted at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival with Haydn's Nelson Mass, and at the Salzburg Festival as Masetto in Don Giovanni , where he has performed every summer since.

Opera

Apart from the aforementioned roles, Pisaroni also has an extensive list of onstage performances to his credit. These include many Mozart roles such as Publio (from La Clemenza di Tito ) for the Salzburg Festival at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera. Leporello (from Don Giovanni ) at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Opéra Bastille followed, then Figaro again at The Santa Fe Opera as well as at the Met. At the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées he performed once more as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte . Guglielmo (from Così fan tutte ) for the Netherlands Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the Salzburg Mozart Week were additions to his Mozart portrayals.

Pisaroni appeared as Alidoro in La Cenerentola in Santiago, Chile, and, in 2012, as the title character in Maometto II at The Santa Fe Opera, which presented the world premiere of the new critical edition prepared by Philip Gossett from the 1820 edition.

His Puccini roles have included Colline in La bohème .

Pisaroni's appearances in Handel roles such as Tiridate in Radamisto at the Houston Opera, in addition to Achilla in Giulio Cesare for Opera Colorado and Melisso from Alcina , have been distinguished, but regarding his attitude to singing more Baroque opera and, specifically, in response to a question as to whether he might do some Cavalli or some Vivaldi in addition, he stated:

To be honest with you, I find the Baroque very interesting both dramatically and vocally, but it is something that you need to let go after a while, if you want to develop your voice to do a certain "heavier" repertoire. Many Baroque singers only sing Baroque and this is not what I want to do. I enjoyed doing Baroque; [in addition to the roles named above] I did Rinaldo, Cavalli's Ercole Amante, and I did Ariodante but there is a moment when you say "if I want my voice to develop I need to explore other repertoire". [2]

In a different vein, he sang Caliban in the baroque pasticcio The Enchanted Island at the Met in 2011 [1] and he returned there in April/May 2014 for performances in La Cenerentola. [5] He returned to the Met in 2015 as Leporello in the company's production of Don Giovanni .

Concerts

In concert performances, Pisaroni has sung Zebul in Händel's Jephtha with the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

He has also performed Michael Haydn's Requiem in C minor under Ivor Bolton, and Mozart's Mass in C Minor under Marc Minkowski, both at the Salzburg Festival.

Furthermore, Pisaroni also has Niccolò Piccinni's Iphigénie en Tauride with the Orchestre National de France, Mozart's Coronation Mass at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso in Toulouse and Brussels under his belt, the last two with Jean-Christophe Spinosi.

He has a keen interest in lieder, and has linked his living in Vienna with his love of Schubert. Among other composers represented in his song recitals are Beethoven, Reichardt, Brahms and Liszt. [1]

Personal life

It was through his 2002 appearance in Salzburg that Pisaroni met both the American baritone Thomas Hampson (who was singing the Don) and his daughter Cate. Cate and Pisaroni were subsequently married [1] and made their home in Vienna. [6] .
After separating in 2022 they divorced in December 2023.

Discography

Related Research Articles

<i>Don Giovanni</i> 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legend about a libertine as told by playwright Tirso de Molina in his 1630 play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra. It is a dramma giocoso blending comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theatre, now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. Don Giovanni is regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time, and has proved a fruitful subject for commentary in its own right; critic Fiona Maddocks has described it as one of Mozart's "trio of masterpieces with librettos by Da Ponte".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hampson</span> American opera singer

Thomas Walter Hampson is an American lyric baritone, a classical singer who has appeared world-wide in major opera houses and concert halls and made over 170 musical recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Busseto</span> Comune in Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Busseto is a comune in the province of Parma, in Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy with about 6,763 inhabitants. Its history is quite well documented back to the 10th century, and for almost five hundred years it was the capital of Stato Pallavicino, which eventually became part of the Duchy of Parma. The town is about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of Cremona in Lombardy.

Gösta Winbergh was a Swedish tenor.

Ferruccio Furlanetto is an Italian bass. His professional debut was in 1974 in Lonigo, he debuted at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1979, in a production of Verdi's Macbeth, conducted by Claudio Abbado. He has gone on to sing numerous roles, including both Don Giovanni and Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Philip II in Verdi's Don Carlos, Figaro in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Gremin in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Zaccaria in Verdi's Nabucco, Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust, Orestes in Strauss' Elektra, Fiesco in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, the title role of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, as well as many other roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio Pini-Corsi</span> Dalmatian Italian opera singer

Antonio Pini-Corsi was a Dalmatian Italian operatic baritone of international renown. He possessed a ripe-toned voice of great flexibility and displayed tremendous skill at patter singing. Pini-Corsi participated in numerous operatic premieres, portraying on stage such characters as Ford in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff and Schaunard in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème. Part of the first generation of recorded musicians, Pini-Corsi was one of the finest buffo singers of his era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francisco Araiza</span> Mexican tenor (born 1950)

José Francisco Araiza Andrade is a Mexican operatic tenor and lied singer who has sung as soloist in leading concert halls and in leading tenor operatic roles in the major opera houses of Europe and North America during the course of a lengthy career. Born in Mexico City, he studied singing at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música de México and later in Germany, with Mozartian tenor Richard Holm, and lieder interpretation with Erik Werba. He made his operatic debut in 1970 in Mexico City as First Prisoner in Beethoven's Fidelio. Araiza initially came to international prominence singing in Mozart and Rossini operas, but in the 1980s broadened his repertoire to include Italian and French lyric tenor roles and Wagnerian roles such as Lohengrin and Walther von Stolzing. He was made a Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera in 1988. Now retired from the opera stage, he teaches singing and serves on the juries of several international singing competitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erwin Schrott</span> Uruguayan opera singer

Erwin Schrott is an Uruguayan operatic bass-baritone, particularly known for the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Alessandro Corbelli is an Italian baritone opera singer. One of the world's pre-eminent singers specializing in Mozart and Rossini, Corbelli has sung in many major opera houses around the world and won admiration for his elegant singing style and sharp characterizations, especially in comic roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rolando Panerai</span> Italian baritone (1924–2019)

Rolando Panerai was an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertoire. He performed at La Scala in Milan, often alongside Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano. He was known for musical understanding, excellent diction and versatile acting in both drama and comic opera. Among his signature roles were Ford in Verdi's Falstaff and the title role of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi.

Lorenzo Regazzo, is an opera singer. His voice can be categorised as bass, bass-baritone or basso cantante. He is especially well known for interpreting Baroque, Classical, and bel canto repertoire. Among the qualities frequently noted by the critical press are his virtuosic coloratura technique, sumptuous tone, and vivid stage presence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Petri</span> Italian opera singer

Mario Petri was an Italian operatic bass-baritone particularly associated with Mozart and Rossini roles.

Richard Van Allan CBE was a versatile British operatic bass singer who had a lengthy career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agostino Rovere</span> Italian opera singer

Agostino Rovere was an Italian operatic bass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Francisco Gatell</span> Argentinian operatic tenor

Juan Francisco Gatell is an Argentinian operatic tenor who specialises in the bel canto repertoire.

Juha Petteri Salomaa is a Finnish operatic bass-baritone who has had an active international singing career in operas and concerts since the late 1970s. He has performed on more than 30 recordings with a variety of record labels, including Decca Records, Deutsche Grammophon, Harmonia Mundi, HMV, and Philips Records among others. He taught on the voice faculty at the Sibelius Academy from 2003–2008, and currently serves as a visiting professor of singing at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgilio Lazzari</span> Italian opera singer (1887–1953)

Virgilio Lazzari was an Italian operatic bass who had an active international performance career from 1908 to 1953. He had lengthy associations with the Chicago Civic Opera (1918–1932) and the Metropolitan Opera (1933–1950), and frequently performed at the Salzburg Festival during the 1930s. He appeared as a guest artist with opera houses internationally, including the Royal Opera House, the Teatro Colón, and the Teatro Carlo Felice among others.

Luise Helletsgruber was an Austrian operatic soprano, who performed at the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

Michele Pertusi is an Italian opera singer (bass) born in Parma on January 12, 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mika Kares</span> Finnish opera singer

Mika Kares is a Finnish operatic bass in opera and concert who made an international career. He was first based at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and went on to the Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, and the Seattle Opera, among others.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Picard, Anna. "People: 418. Luca Pisaroni", Opera , January 2014, Vol. 65, No. 1, pp. 6—13.
  2. 1 2 3 Gazzola interview in Opera Lively
  3. ↑ Full biography on imgartists.com, retrieved 20 June 2010.
  4. ↑ Salzburger Festspiele 2007, retrieved 4 April 2008.
  5. ↑ "La Cenerentola" on metoperafamily.org Retrieved 5 January 2014
  6. ↑ Picard, p. 6: She notes that, having settled in Vienna, "[he] believes himself to be mitteleuropäisch by nature"

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.