Angelo Villari - Pinkerton*

After his success in Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Regio in Parma and at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Angelo Villari makes his debut at the Terme di Caracalla in Rome singing Pinkerton. Amongst his recent successes it is worth mentioning:  Canio in Pagliacci, Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana, Cavaradossi in Tosca and Alfredo in Traviata; Cavalleria Rusticana in Lecce, Pagliacci in Malta, Attila (Foresto) in Rovereto; Il Trovatore at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo; Madama Butterfly in Lübeck and in Bari; La Traviata in Malta; the main role in Ennio Porrino’s I Shardana at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari; conducted by Anthony Bramall in a new production by Davide Livermore (just issued in DVD by Dynamic); he starred in Casella’s La donna serpente singing the main tenor role under Fabio Luisi for the opening of the Martina Franca Festival. Mr. Villari recently sang Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur in Como, Pavia and Cremona.

Plans  include: Mascagni’s Guglielmo Ratcliff at the Wexford Festival Opera; Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.

Fabrizio Beggi - Zio Bonzo

Mr. Beggi started his career in 2011 attending the Ensemble Opera Studio at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, where he made his debut in Donizetti’s Il Campanello and then in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and in Roméo et Juliette under Fabio Luisi. Fabrizio Beggi won the Toti Dal Monte prize in 2012, making his debut in Cimarosa’s Matrimonio Segreto in Treviso, Ferrara and Rovigo. Mr. Beggi recently sang Rigoletto in Savona, Battistelli’s Matrimonio all’Italiana at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, La Cenerentola (Alidoro) in Ferrara and Treviso. Mr. Beggi regularly collaborates with Gianandrea Noseda and the Teatro Regio in Turin, where in the past seasons he starred in Andrea Chénier, Don Carlo, Simon Boccanegra, Rigoletto, Gianni Schicchi, Un Ballo in Maschera on tour in Japan, Guillaume Tell (Melchtal), then on tour at the Edinburgh Festival and in Canada and Le Nozze di Figaro. Recently he performed and recorded I Capuleti e I Montecchi at the Reate Festival under Fabio Biondi, Tosca in Jesi and Fermo, Un Ballo in Maschera at the Comunale in Bologna and I Puritani at the Teatro Regio in Turin both under the baton of Michele Mariotti; Handel’s Imeneo at the Handel Festival in Halle under Fabio Biondi.

Future plans:   I Capuleti e I Montecchi  in Warsaw and Stavanger, La Bohème for OperaLombardia (Brescia, Cremona, Como, Pavia) and in Reggio Emilia; Casella’s La Donna Serpente at the Teatro Regio in Turin (under Gianandrea Noseda) and Simon Boccanegra on tour in Hong Kong (under Roberto Abbado) again with the Teatro Regio.

Federico Benetti – Il Commissario imperiale

Born in Rome, he began his musical studies playing piano, graduating then in singing at the D. Cimarosa conservatoire in Avellino, and specializing at the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome with Renata Scotto, Anna Vandi and Cesare Scarton.

He made his debut in Pergolesi’s La serva padrona in Terni, in Mozart’s Bastiano and Bastiana and in Don Giovanni (Masetto) on tour in Italy; he then performed in Traviata in Teramo, Ravenna and Messina; La Bohème in Florence; Strauss’ Rosenkavalier in Rome; Rigoletto and The merry widow in Genoa; La fanciulla del west in Torre del Lago; Strauss’ Salome, Gianni Schicchi, Carmen and Anna Bolena opposite Mariella Devia in Trieste, while in Milan he sang La battaglia di Legnano and The Merry Widow. He then performed in Carrara’s La piccola vendetta lombarda at the Accademia in Santa Cecilia in Rome, then on tour in Jesi; Gianni Schicchi in Viterbo, Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and at the Reate Festival in Rieti and Piacenza; Rigoletto in Chieti, in Clermont Ferrand and on tour in France. Mr. Benetti recorded Pergolesi’s La serva padrona for Tactus; he made his debut as Enrico VIII in Anna Bolena under the baton of Fabio Biondi at the Reate Festival in Rieti  and then as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte in Chieti; Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania under the baton of Xu Zhong in Siracusa; Simon Boccanegra in Toulon.

Plans include Tosca  and Traviata in Toulon; Barbiere di Siviglia in Clermont Ferrand and on tour in France.