Born
in Paternò, Francesco Verna began his studies very young, specializing
under the guidance of Sara Pastorello. At age of 19, he won “Young
Promise” special prize at the “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; Mustafà in L’Italiana in Algeri, Colline in La Bohème 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 Roméo et Juliette (Mercutio) in Sassari. In Genoa, at the Teatro Carlo Felice, he sang Enrico in Donizetti’s Il Campanello, Marcello in La Bohème, Mercutio in Roméo 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 Bohème 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 Bohème (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 Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as Emilio in Il Cappello di Paglia after that important engagements followed: Die Lustige Witwe and La Bohème at the Teatro Filarmonico and Morales in Carmen at the Arena in Verona; Faust (Valentin) in Skopje; Alidoro in La Cenerentola in Savona; La Bohème in Catania and he participated in the production of La rondine in Lucca and on tour in Tuscany.
Most recently, he was Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at the Teatro dell'Opera in Florence and at the Glyndebourne Festival; Schaunard in La bohème at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari; Happy in La fanciulla del West at Teatro alla Scala in Milan (under the baton of R. Chailly); Donizetti’s Requiem in Taranto and Rome (under G.Gelmetti); Don Giovanni (Leporello), Die Lustige Witwe (Mirko Zeta) and La Traviata at Teatro Bellini in Catania; Un ballo in maschera (Silvano), L'amico Fritz, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Palla de' Mozzi at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari; Andrea Chénier (Mathieu) at La Scala in Milan, as Gerard in Catania where he returned starring in La Capinera and in Il Pirata; Pagliacci in Genoa; La Bohème in Naples; Madama Butterfly, Siberia and La Rondine in Florence.
Plans include The Telephone at the Filarmonico in Verona.
November 2021