Francesca Maria Cucuzza was born in Palermo in 1995. She approached music at the age of eight, studying piano at the “Bellini” Conservatory in her city. She then moved to Modena, where she began studying singing at the “Vecchi- Tonelli” Conservatory with Tiziana Tramonti.

Under the guidance of Cinzia Forte, she graduated with honours from the “Girolamo Frescobaldi” Conservatory in Ferrara.

In 2016, she won the international opera competition “Città di Ferrara” and debuted the role of Ines in Il Trovatore; she was also awarded the “Daniele Barioni” prize for the youngest performer. She distinguished herself in other international singing competitions: second prize at the "Magda Olivero" in 2019; the scholarship and advanced training course for the role of Adalgisa in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma at the “Toti dal Monte” in Treviso; first prize in the "emerging voices" category at the “Fausto Ricci” international opera competition; first prize at the “Gli amici di Irina” competition at the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara.

She was selected by "Europa in Canto" and made her debut at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in the roles of the Second Lady and Papagena in Die Zauberfloete, with performances at the Teatro Comunale Mario del Monaco in Treviso, Teatro Comunale in Rovigo and at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. She was Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Comunale in Modena and as the winner of the 2018 “Toti Dal Monte” Competitino, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro on stage at the Teatro Comunale in Treviso, and then on tour in Jesi and Ferrara. She also sang as Giovanna in Rigoletto in Busseto and participated in the production of Traviata for the AsLiCo circuit in the role of Annina.

She made her debut in the role of Contessa d'Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro in Bologna with the Orchestra Senzaspine and at the Teatro Real in Madrid in concert singing a selection of excerpts from Die Zauberfloete (Pamina) and as Maddalena in Il Viaggio a Reims in Valencia, then under the baton of Zubin Mehta sang Mozart's Kronungsmesse at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, where she returned for Madama Butterfly (Kate Pinkerton). She recently made her debut in the role of Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni conducted by Angelo Gabrielli in Diano Marina and Carpi, a role she then reprised in Bologna at the Teatro Duse with the orchestra Senza Spine and in Livorno and Lucca under the baton of Alessandro Cadario, while at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna she sang as Marianna in Il Signor Bruschino.

Recent engagements include: Così fan tutte in Vicenza, Jesi, Pisa and Modena (Despina) and Matera (Dorabella); Ponchielli's Il Parlatore eterno (Aspasia) at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona; and Il Turco in Italia (Zaida) in Rovigo, Ravenna,Jesi, Rimini and Pisa.

Plans include: Despina in Così fan tutte in Metz and Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana in Modena, Piacenza and Rimini.

January 2025