Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio graduated from the Avellino
Conservatory and was a member of the Opera Studio at La Scala in Milan.
Giannattasio's international career was launched in 2002 when she won the
prestigious Operalia competition in Paris, organized by Plácido Domingo.
Since then the soprano has been in demand at all the major Italian and
foreign theatres (La Scala in Milan, San Carlo in Naples, Arena in Verona,
Comunale in Bologna, Sferisterio in Macerata, Fenice in Venice,
Metropolitan Opera in New York, Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre des
Champs-Élysées in Paris, Opernhaus in Zurich, Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper
in Berlin, La Monnaie in Brussels, Kungliga Operan in Stockholm,
Staatsoper in Vienna, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Teatro Municipal in
Sao Paulo, Bolshoi in Moscow, De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, Vlaamse
Opera in Antwerp, Teatro Perez Galdos in Las Palmas, Los Angeles Opera,
Teatro Municipal in Santiago del Chile).
In her career she has been: Micaela in Carmen, Amelia in Simon
Boccanegra, Anna in Maometto secondo, Leonora in Il
Trovatore, Elena in La donna del lago, Violetta Valéry in La
traviata, Liù in Turandot, Mimì in La Bohème,
Elisabetta I in Maria Stuarda, Nedda in Pagliacci, Donna
Elvira in Don Giovanni, Desdemona in Otello, Alice Ford in
Falstaff, Madama Cortese in Il Viaggio a Reims, Margherita
in Mefistofele, Tosca, Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera,
Norma, Giovanna d'Arco, Giorgetta in Tabarro, Tatiana in Onegin,
Anna in Le Villi, Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly,
Gioconda, Aida, Minnie in La Fanciulla del West.
She has worked with world-famous artists such as Zubin Metha, Daniel
Harding, Pinchas Steinberg, Antonio Pappano, Daniel Oren, Ezio Bosso,
Donato Renzetti, Omer Meier Wellber, Ferzan Ozpetek, Luca Ronconi, Leo
Nucci, Damiano Michieletto, David McVicar, Placido Domingo, Joseph
Calleja.
On February 28, 2017, she received the honor of Cavaliere dell'Ordine
della Stella della Repubblica Italiana. In December 2021, she received the
prestigious Callas Prize in New York. In 2024, she was the only singer to
perform for the heads of state attending the G7 Cultural Summit in
Pompeii.
New York's Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera, La Scala, Berlin, Vienna, Paris,
Tokyo, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, but also London's Opera Rara,
the Sydney Opera House, the Bolshoi, Beijing and Madrid: there is no
important stage that Carmen Giannattasio has not tread, to great public
and critical acclaim, in a very intense career that has seen her pioneer a
new and modern way of understanding the role of the international opera
star, outside the traditional schemes, anticipating the language of social
media: impeccable academic attitude on stage, pop divertissement as a way
of life and self-communication.
Known not only for her vocal virtuosity, but also for her remarkable
acting skills, she has been chosen by film directors such as Ferzan
Ozpetek, Edoardo De Angelis, Franco Zeffirelli and John Schlesinger.
She
has been described by the Telegraph as "the Anna Magnani of opera".
For many years she lived in London, the city where she made friends who
have been fundamental to her human and artistic experience, including the
iconic actress Judy Dench and Ezio Bosso, who dedicated to her the
celebrated composition for solo piano Following a Bird; she has
been the muse of Karl Lagerfeld, Alberta Ferretti and Antonio Riva.
Today, Giannattasio chooses with care and affection the operatic
productions to which she still wishes to lend her voice and her undoubted
virtuosity, working at the same time on operas such as Tosca,
which are her workhorses, but also tackling new roles in debuts such as
Giorgetta in Tabarro in 2023 and Gioconda, Aida, Minnie, Cio Cio
San in 2024. At the same time, she is planning new social
projects specifically for women, continuing that attitude of
transversality and hard work that allowed her, as a young woman, to
simultaneously pursue her academic studies in Slavistics and the
Conservatory, a highly successful traditional career, and a millimetric
ante litteram management of her image.
May 2025