Born in Paterno', Francesco Verna began his studies very young,
specializing under the guidance of Sara Pastorello. At age of 19, he won
the Young Promise special prize at Bellini International Contest in
Caltanissetta and the second prize at Ruggero Leoncavallo Contest in
Montalto Uffugo (Cosenza). In 2002 he won the first prize at Francesco
Cilea Contest in Reggio Calabria.
He made his debut as Uberto in Pergolesi's La serva
padrona at Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile. In 2003 won
the Inetrnational Contest A. Belli in Spoleto making his debut as Figaro
in Le Nozze di Figaro and Dottor Grenvil in La
Traviata, roles he interpreted again on tour in Japan. Francesco
Verna performed as Dulcamara in L'Elisir d'amore with
As.Li.Co in Milan, Turin, Cremona, Pavia, Bergamo and Brescia; Mustafa'
in L'Italiana in Algeri, Colline in La
Boheme at Teatro Lirico in Spoleto and again Figaro in Le
Nozze di Figaro at Teatro Comunale in Treviso.
In
the past seasons, he has partecipated in the productions of Il
Cappello di Paglia di Firenze (Emilio) at Maggio Musicale
Fiorentino, Pagliacci (Silvio) at Teatro Filarmonico in
Verona, L'amico Fritz (Davide) at Teatro Lirico in
Cagliari and Romeo et Juliette (Mercutio) in Sassari. In
Genoa, at the Teatro Carlo Felice, he sang Enrico in Donizetti's Il
Campanello, Marcello in La Boheme, Mercutio in Romeo
et Juliette (under the baton of Fabio Luisi and Jean-Louis
Grinda directing), Ping in Turandot and Masetto in Don
Giovanni.
Among
his other past engagements, he sang: Le roi de Lahore and
La Boheme at the Teatro
La Fenice in Venice; Il
Viaggio a Reims (Trombonok
and Don Prudenzio) at
Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and at La Monnaie in Bruxelles; Le Nozze
di Figaro (Figaro) and Don
Giovanni (Masetto) at Teatro
La Scala in Milan; La Boheme
(Schaunard) at the
Teatro Comunale in Bologna,
role he performed again in Treviso, Jesi, Fermo and Venezia (Teatro
Malibran).
He
collaborated
with conductors such as: Riccardo Chailly, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Zubin
Mehta, Fabio Luisi, Yuri Temirkanov, Marcello Viotti, Gustavo Dudamel,
Gerard Korsten, Kazushi Ono, Sergio Alapont, Maurizio Arena,
Daniele Callegari, Fabrizio Maria Carminati and Marco Guidarini; and
directors as: Giorgio Pressburger, Maurizio Scaparro,
Peter Mussbach, Jean-Louis Grinda, Lorenzo Mariani, Andrea Cigni,
Stefano Vizioli, Mario Pontiggia, Franco Ripa di Meana and Luca Ronconi.
Recently Francesco Verna made his debut as Ford in Falstaff
in Sassari and Jesi. Noteworthy it is his return to Verona (al
Teatro Filarmonico) as Barone Zeta in La Vedova Allegra, and
then Faust (Valentin) in Skopje and his debut at the Arena in
Verona as Morales in Carmen; La Cenerentola (Alidoro)
in Savona, again La Boheme (Schaunard) at the Filarmonico in
Verona and in Catania and La Rondine in Lucca, Modena and
Livorno.
Most recent engagements include: Madama Butterfly
at the Teatro dell'Opera in Florence and at the Glyndebourne
Festival; Schaunard in La Boheme at the Teatro Petruzzelli in
Bari; Don Giovanni, La Vedova Allegra, Andrea
Chenier, La Capinera and La Traviata al Massimo
Bellini in Catania; Donizetti's Requiem in Taranto and Roma
(under the baton of Gelmetti); Un Ballo in Maschera (Silvano),
Don Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Palla de Mozzi,
L'amico Fritz at the Lirico in Cagliari; Andrea Chenier
(Mathieu) at the Teatro alla Scala; La Boheme in Naples; Madama
Butterfly, Siberia and La Rondine in Florence; Menotti's
The Telephone at the Filarmonico in Verona; Werther (Le Bailli)
at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari; Pagliacci (Silvio) in
Catania; Falcone e Borsellino and Rigoletto at the
Festival dei Teatri di Pietra; La Rondine in Jesi and Carmina
Burana at the Teatro Garibaldi in Modica.
Next engagements include: La Traviata (Barone
Douphol) in Trieste, Udine and Pordenone.
September 2024