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).

Some of the most significant productions in recent seasons include: Don Giovanni (Leporello) at the Salzburg Festival under the direction of Romeo Castellucci and conducted by Theodor Currentzis; Dallapiccola's Il Prigioniero 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; his debut in Strauss' Capriccio (Oliver) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich; La Cenerentola (Dandini) at the Paris Opera; Don Giovanni (title role) at the Teatro Regio di Parma; Nick Shadow in The Rake's progress with Daniele Gatti at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Henri Ashton in Lucie de Lammermoor at the Festival Donizetti di Bergamo; Don Pizarro in Fidelio at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari.

Upcoming engagements include: 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) at the Rossini Opera Festival conducted by Michele Mariotti (celebratory edition for the 40th anniversary of the opera's modern rediscovery); Don Giovanni (title role) in Tokyo; Le nozze di Figaro (Conte d'Almaviva) in Turin; Giorgio Germont (role debut) in La Traviata in Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse and Don Giovanni in Tokyo.

In concert Vito Priante recently sang 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. Under the baton of Donato Renzetti, he performed Orff's Carmina Burana with the Orchestra of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

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.

May 2024