Bartoli, Cecilia

Bartoli, Cecilia, outstanding Italian mezzo-soprano; b. Rome, June 4, 1966. She began vocal training at a very early age with her mother; at the age of nine, sang the off-stage role of the shepherd in Tosca . After studying trombone at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, she pursued a vocal career, attracting favorable attention when she was 19 on an Italian television special with Ricciarelli and Nucci. Her formal stage debut followed in Verona in 1987. She then received valuable coaching from Karajan and Barenboim. On July 17, 1990, she made her U.S. debut as soloist at the Mostly Mozart Festival in N.Y. During the 1990–91 season, she made successful debuts with the Opéra de la Bastille in Paris as Cherubino, at La Scala in Milan as Isolier in Le Comte Ory, at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as Dorabella, and at the Teatro Liceo in Barcelona as Rosina. In 1992 she performed admirably as Cherubino and Dorabella in concert performances with Barenboim and the Chicago Sym. Orch., and also appeared as Despina at the Salzburg Festival. On April 23, 1993, she made a sensational U.S. operatic stage debut with the Houston Grand Opera as Rosina. She made her first appearance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on March 25, 1994. On Sept. 29, 1994, she regaled audiences at the opening of the 1994–95 season of N.Y/s Carnegie Hall when she appeared as soloist with Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. The event was later telecast to the nation over PBS. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. as Despina on Feb. 9, 1996. Her Carnegie Hall recital debut followed on March 28, 1996. In 1998 she appeared as Susanna at the Metropolitan Opera and as Paisiello’s Nina in Zürich. She returned to Zürich in 1999 to portray Donna Elvira. The matchless combination of her vocal perfection and extraordinary dramatic gifts have made Bartoli one of the most heralded singers of her day. Among her other acclaimed operatic roles are Concepción, Bellini’s Romeo, Massenet’s Charlotte, and Offenbach’s Hélène. In addition to opera, she pursues a remarkably successful concert career.