Vito Priante was born in Naples and studied French and German literature.
His debut in opera dates back to 2002 with Pergolesi's La serva
padrona in Florence. Within a few seasons his vocal, interpretative
and scenic qualities were recognised by Italian critics with the 2009
Franco Abbiati prize for his performance in the title role of
Dallapiccola's Il Prigioniero at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
Vito Priante was also awarded the BBC Music Magazine's Opera Award 2017
for his interpretation of Leporello in Don Giovanni conducted by
Theodor Currentzis.
At the beginning of his career, he regularly appeared in the baroque and
Mozart repertoire: his first collaborations with Alan Curtis, Ivor Bolton,
Marko Letonja, Fabio Biondi and Gérard Korsten date back to this period.
In 2006 he made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan as Conte
d'Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and performed Die Zauberflöte
(Papageno) at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and at the Teatro Carlo
Felice in Genoa. Within a few seasons he made his debuts at the Salzburg
Festival (Haydn's Armida directed by Christof Loy), at the
Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich (La Calisto, Ariodante and Tamerlano)
and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris (Le nozze di Figaro,
title role). In 2010 he sang for the first time with Riccardo Muti in
Jommelli's La Betulia liberata at the Vienna State Opera.
Nowadays, Vito Priante is considered a reference interpreter of the
Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy, which he performed on the world's most
prestigious stages: Milan, Tokyo, Madrid, Glyndebourne, Lyon, Bologna,
Berlin, Rome, Salzburg.
Rossini's repertoire is also a cornerstone in the development of his
career. His Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia toured the world:
Toronto, Florence, Muscat, Turin, London and Rome. Dandini in La
Cenerentola, on the other hand, is the role he has most frequently
performed: Vienna, Los Angeles, Munich, Muscat, Naples, Chicago, Rome,
Montreal and Paris. He also sang the Poet Prosdocimo in Il Turco in
Italia in Munich and Amsterdam. At the Rossini Opera Festival in
Pesaro, he performed La gazzetta and Adina.
Thanks to his wide vocal range, Vito Priante has also tackled numerous
bass-baritone roles such as Escamillo in Carmen (London, Dresden,
Venice, Turin, Milan), the 'four villains' in Les Contes d'Hoffmann
(Madrid, Tel Aviv), Nick Shadow in Stravinsky's The Rake's progress
(Florence).
In recent seasons, Vito Priante has also added to his repertoire such
roles as The Duke of Nottingham in Roberto Devereux (Munich), Lord
Cecil in Maria Stuarda (Barcelona), Alphonse IX in La Favorite
(Florence), Seid in Il Corsaro (Valencia), Ford in Falstaff
(Munich); and Giorgio Germont in La Traviata (Strasbourg,
Colmar, Mulhouse).
Among the most significant productions of recent seasons are: Don
Giovanni (Leporello) at the Salzburg Festival, directed by Romeo
Castellucci and conducted by Theodor Currentzis, and again at the Teatro
Regio in Parma and the Caracalla Festival; Il Prigioniero by
Dallapiccola at the Hamburg Musikfest conducted by Antonio Pappano; Le
Nozze di Figaro (Figaro) at the Teatro Real in Madrid in the new
production by Claus Guth and at the Teatro Regio in Turin; his debut in
Strauss’s Capriccio (Oliver) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in
Munich; La Cenerentola (Dandini) at the Paris Opera; Nick Shadow
in The Rake’s Progress with Daniele Gatti at the Maggio Musicale
Fiorentino; Henri Ashton in Lucie de Lammermoor at the Donizetti
Festival in Bergamo; Don Pizarro in Fidelio at the Teatro
Petruzzelli in Bari; and Il cappello di paglia di Firenze at
Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
In the concert field, Vito Priante has recently sung Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome under the baton
of Antonio Pappano, with whom he also performed Bach’s Matthäus-Passion
and Fauré’s Requiem; Orff’s Carmina Burana with the
Orchestra of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples conducted by Donato Renzetti
and at the Caracalla Festival; Schubert’s Mass No. 2 in G major D167
with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks conducted by
Riccardo Muti; Il viaggio a Reims (Don Alvaro) in concert form at
the Rossini Opera Festival conducted by Michele Mariotti (a special
edition marking the 40th anniversary of the modern rediscovery); and
Donizetti’s Requiem at the Saint-Denis Festival.
Among the engagements of the 2025-26 season are: Verdi’s Macbeth
at the Festival Verdi in Parma; Caterina Cornaro at the Donizetti
Opera Festival in Bergamo; Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Opéra de
Marseille; and Don Giovanni at the New National Theater in Tokyo.
During his career, Vito Priante has worked with such conductors as
Riccardo Muti, Ivor Bolton, Antonio Pappano, Daniele Gatti, Theodor
Currentzis, James Conlon, Stefano Montanari, Fabio Luisi, Myung-Whun
Chung, Maurizio Benini, Daniel Oren, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Daniel Barenboim,
Jeffrey Tate, Antonello Manacorda, Daniel Harding, Marc Minkowski, as well
as directors such as Claus Guth, Christoph Marthaler, Peter Stein, Graham
Vick, Andreas Homoki, Damiano Michieletto, Christof Loy, Calixto Bieito,
Dmitri Tcherniakov, Emma Dante, Romeo Castellucci, David Alden, Pierre
Audi, Robert Carsen.
August 2025