Silvia Dalla Benetta, soprano
ilvia Dalla Benetta is one of the leading dramatic coloratura sopranos on the world stage. Having achieved notable success in lyric and lyric coloratura roles throughout Italy, Europe, and Asia, her transition during recent seasons into Verdian dramatic coloratura repertoire has commanded notice and acclaim.Engagements this season include Elisabetta in Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra in Sassari, Gulnara in Il corsaro at the prestigious Festival Verdi Parma, Marguerite in Les Huguenots at the Nice Opera House, Norma in Lucerne, Bianca in Bianca e Gerando at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival, her role debut as Aida in Malta and Sakuntala in Alfano’s La leggenda di Sakuntala in Catania.In the 2014/2015 season the Italian soprano excelled in her role debut as Abigaille in Nabucco in Gozo, Malta, having previously debuted as Elvira in Ernani in at the Lithuanian National Opera of Vilnius; Semiramide in Nice, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Pisa, Fiorilla in Il Turco in Italia in Catania, Sophia/Heronyma in the world premiere of Hatzinasios’s El Greco in Athens, Eleonora in Lindpaintner’s Il vespro siciliano and Isabella in L’inganno felice at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival.The 2013/2014 season was marked by her interpretations of two Verdian roles, Messa da Requiem in Jesi and Alice in Falstaff in Sassari and Jesi, as well as by performances of Bellini’s Norma in Zagreb and Micaëla in Carmen at the Teatro Carlo Felice of Genoa and gala concerts in Vicenza’s Teatro Olimpico and the Teatro Alfieri of Asti.Silvia Dalla Benetta’s extensive repertoire comprises roles including Gulnara in Il corsaro (Parma Verdi Festival and ABAO Bilbao), Giselda in I lombardi alla prima crociata (Teatro Regio di Parma), Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly (in tour with the Teatro Verdi of Trieste), Mimì in La bohème (Palma de Mallorca and the Hong Kong Performing Arts Center), Liù in Turandot (Teatro Verdi of Pisa), Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow (Trieste’s Teatro Verdi, Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice, and the Fondazione Arena di Verona), Micaëla in Carmen (Arena di Verona, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, and the aforementioned production of the Carlo Felice), Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust (Teatro Coccia di Novara), Juliette in Roméo et Juliette (Trieste), and the four women of Les contes d’Hoffmann (Circuito Lirico Lombardo).Silvia Dalla Benetta’s interpretation of Violetta Valéry in La traviata has become a point of reference, with performances in Italy’s premiere theaters and at festivals throughout the world, including Turin’s Teatro Regio, the Maggio Musicale of Florence, the Arena di Verona, the Teatro Carlo Felice, Toronto’s Mississauga Opera, the Puccini Festival of Torre del Lago (with transmission in cinemas throughout Italy), and the Mohammed V National Theater of Rabat. Belcanto repertoire has likewise played a significant role in Dalla Benetta’s wide-ranging career, with successes as Norma (Pisa, Cremona, Pavia, Como, Brescia, Trento, and Zagreb), the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor (Cagliari, Trieste, Fermo, Wiesbaden, Bern, Mississauga, St. Gallen, Livorno, Pisa, Lucca, and Ravenna), Rossini’s Semiramide (Livorno, Pisa, Lucca, Louberon and Nice), and Fiorilla in Il turco in Italia (Hamburg, Pisa, Trieste, Catania).Silvia Dalla Benetta has collaborated with conductors Nicola Luisotti, Daniel Oren, Andrea Battistoni, Giampaolo Bisanti, Daniele Callegari, Piergiorgio Morandi, Donato Renzetti, Carlo Montanaro, and Renato Palumbo, among others, as well as stage directors Franco Zeffirelli, Jonathan Miller, Daniele Abbado, Laurent Pelly, and Henning Brockhaus.Her commercial recordings include Gounod’s Faust and a solo album of arias (Kikko Music) and the the DVD of the Teatro Regio di Parma’s production of Il corsaro on Unitel Classica.The Vicenza-born soprano studied at the Conservatorio “Benedetto Marcello” of Venice and counts among her teachers Romano Gandolfi, Aldo Ceccato, Stella Silva, Mirella Parutto, Alida Ferrarini, Ida Adami Corradetti, Luciana Serra, Denia Mazzola, Sherman Lowe, and Renata Scotto. She was the 2004 winner of the Sanremo Opera Competition. (April 2015)

Paola Gardina, mezzo
One of today’s most sought-after mezzo-sopranos, Paola Gardina has appeared in such venues as Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, Théâtre des Champs Elysées de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper di Monaco, Teatro Real de Madrid, Theater An der Wien, La Monnaie de Bruxelles, Opéra de Nice, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Ravenna Fetival, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, Sferisterio di Macerata, Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

She worked with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Peter Maag, Antonio Pappano, Daniel Barenboim, Jeffrey Tate, Eliahu Inbal, Renato Palumbo, Evelino Pidò and Bruno Bartoletti.

During the 2015/16 season she performed Così fan tutte (Dorabella) at Opera di Firenze and in Bogotà, Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) at Teatro Petruzelli di Bari, Iolanta (Laura) at Opéra National de Paris, I Capuleti e I Montecchi (Romeo) at Stadttheater Klagenfurt, as well as Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosini) at Opera di Firenze.
She opened the 2016/17 season performing Così fan tutte (Dorabella) at Opera de Oviedo.
Among her future plans are Così fan tutte (Dorabella) at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) at Teatro La Fenice di Venezia and in Klagenfurt, Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) at Teatro Massimo di Palermo.
Graduated at Conservatory in Rovigo, a winner of “Toti Dal Monte” Vocal Competition in 2013, after winning the As.Li.Co. Competition in 2005, she performed as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at Theaters in Como, Rovigo, Lucca and Modena. She improves her vocal technique with Sherman Lowe in Venice.

Lorenzo de Caro, tenor
For the biography of Lorenzo de Caro, please refer to the concert of Wednesday, February 26.

Orquesta Joven de Extremadura
For the biography of Orquesta Joven de Extremadura, please refer to the concert of Sunday, March 12.

Gianluca Marcianò, conductor
For the biography of Gianluca Marcianò, please refer to the concert of Wednesday, February 15

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901)
Nabucco excerpts
About Nabucco, first performed at La Scala in Milan in 1842, Verdi commented that “this is the opera with which my artistic career really begins. And though I had many difficulties to fight against, it is certain that Nabucco was born under a lucky star.” The opera follows the plight of the Jews as they are assaulted, conquered, and subsequently exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian King Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar). The historical events are used as background for a romantic and political plot.

Hector Berlioz (1803 –1869)
Berlioz’s La Mort de Cléopâtre is a deeply admired work that has been taken up by some of the most important singers of our time, among them Jessye Norman, Janet Baker, Hildegard Behrens, and Jennie Tourel. Berlioz would be less surprised at the belated vindication of a composition into which, at twenty-five, he poured everything he had. But it was a score that, for various reasons, never stood a chance.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901)
Aida excerpts
By the time Verdi undertook the composition of Aïda, he was world famous, wealthy and pretty much able to dictate the terms of every aspect of a new opera. His most recent operas, Don Carlos and La forza del destino, had been premiered to great acclaim in Paris and St. Petersburg respectively. Between 1867 and 1870 he was bombarded by a seemingly endless series of proposals for a new opera from Camille du Locle, the librettist for Don Carlos, then the new director of the Opéra Comique in Paris. Verdi, who had his heart set on a comedy, rejected some out of hand and mused over the possibility of others until in 1870 du Locle forwarded to him a four-page synopsis of a play set in ancient Egypt.