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Born in 1981, he begins his musical studies in 1988 at the Liceo
d’Arte in his hometown Elbasan (Albania) as a violinist and continues studying
singing at the Conservatories of Tirana and Bolzano, with Vito Brunetti, who
still is his teacher. After moving to Italy, he wins in 2002 the International
Competition "Enrico Caruso" in Milan and the "Tito Schipa" International
Competition in Lecce. He makes his debut at the Rossini Opera Festival with Il
viaggio a Reims and Adina. Thereafter he starts an important
collaboration with the Wiener Staatsoper, winning the prestigious prize
"Eberhard Waechter Gesangsmedaille" with L’elisir d’amore.
In Ferrara he sings Così fan tutte directed by Claudio
Abbado and at the Salzburger Festspiele with Philippe Jordan. Important debuts
follow, bringing the young artist to the major opera houses throughout the
world from the Hamburgische Staatsoper, to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich,
from the Berlin Staatsoper, to the Teatro dell’Opera and Accademia Santa
Cecilia in Rome. He sings at the Opernhaus in Zurich, at the Covent Garden, at
the Teatro Real in Madrid and at the San Carlo in Lisbon; he makes his debut in
Valencia, at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna and at the Amsterdam’s
Concertgebouw.
He has already collaborated with conductors like Claudio Abbado,
Lorin Maazel, Daniele Gatti, Seiji Ozawa, Franz Welser Möst, Gustav Kuhn, James
Colon, Antonio Pappano and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Among his principal roles it is worth mentioning Don Ottavio (Don
Giovanni), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Elisir d’Amore (Nemorino),
Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Falstaff (Fenton), Alfredo Germont (La
Traviata), Rigoletto (Il Duca di Mantova). He just sang the role
of Idomeneo at the Styriarte FestivalSteirische in Graz, conducted and directed
by Harnoncourt. He just made his US debut singing Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi
at the Los Angeles Opera, Woody Allen directing.
Highlights of his future engagements include: La Traviata
Santa Fe Opera Festival, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Théâtre Municipal de
Lausanne, Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Teatro del Maggio Musicale in
Florence, Lucia di Lammermoor (Sir Edgardo di Ravenswood) at the
Hamburgische Staatsoper, Gianni Schicchi (Rinuccio) at the Metropolitan
Opera in New York, Alfano’s Cyrano (Christian) at the Théâtre du
Châtelet in Paris, Così fan tutte at the Théâtre du Capitole de
Toulouse, Rigoletto (Duca di Mantova) at the Opernhaus in Zürich and Die
Schoepfung at theOpera Nomori in Tokio.
Concerning his future concert activity, it is worth mentioning
Mozart’s Requiem at the Lingotto Auditorium in Turin with Claudio Abbado
and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Berlioz’s Requiem op.5 with the