Simone Alberghini - Marcello*

Italian bass-baritone Simone Alberghini, the 1994 Operalia Grand Prize winner, has appeared in opera houses at the highest level world-wide since the beginning of his career. Mr. Alberghini regularly collaborates with internationally renowned conductors such as Alberto Zedda, Vladimir Jurowski, Riccardo Chailly, Zubin Mehta, Andrew Davis, Gianandrea Noseda, Seiji Osawa, Maurizio Benini, Michele Mariotti, Renato Palumbo, Emmanuel Villaume, Nicola Luisotti, Eduardo Muller and Teodor Currentzis.

Simone Alberghini recently performed: Guillaume Tell at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Mariotti conducting and Vick directing; Donizetti’s Il furioso all’ isola di San Domingo at the Donizetti Musica Festival in Bergamo and in Savona, Modena, Ravenna and Piacenza; L’Elisir d’Amore (Belcore) in Washington; Anna Bolena (Enrico VIII) at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow; Così fan tutte (Guglielmo) in Bologna; Don Giovanni (title role) at the Perm State Opera under Teodor Currentzis; La Bohème (Marcello) in Tenerife; Les Contes d’Hoffmann in Piacenza, Modena and Reggio Emilia; La Cenerentola (Dandini) in Washington, Naples and in Göteborg; Mozart’s Requiem in Turin with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai; La Gazza Ladra at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro; Donizetti’s Requiem with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mr. Alberghini starred in the Rada Film opera movie La Cenerentola directed by Carlo Verdone and conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti, which has been telecast worldwide.

Plans: Così fan tutte (Guglielmo) in Florence; Il Turco in Italia (Selim) in Piacenza and Ravenna; Carmen in Bologna; Le Nozze di Figaro (Conte d’Almaviva) in Naples; La fille du régiment (Sulpice) in Barcelona; he will also make his debut as Conte di Luna in Il trovatore in Tenerife.

Gianluca Buratto - Colline

A noble and round voice, Gianluca Buratto is rapidly establishing himself as one of his most versatile basses of his generation. His recent engagements include: Bach’s B minor Mass with Savall in Madrid and Barcelona, both Mozart and Jommelli’s Betulia liberata with Muti in Salzburg and Ravenna and in Wroclaw under Rovaris; Mercadante’s Virginia and La Bohème at the Wexford Opera Festival; Ambrosini’s Il Killer di Parole (world première), La Bohème and Rigoletto in Venice; Mozart’s Mass in C minor KV 427 at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Nagano and in Cagliari; Bach’s Johannes-Passion with Lopez-Banzo in Spain and Germany; Macbeth with Muti at the Salzburg Festival, Rome and Chicago; Solbiati’s La Leggenda (world première) in Turin with Noseda; Le Nozze di Figaro (Bartolo) in Barcelona with Rousset; L’Incoronazione di Poppea(Seneca) at the Innsbruck Festival; La Bohème (with Chailly) and I Due Foscari in Valencia;Macbeth at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan; Rota’s Mysterium at the Vatican City, in Naples, Bari and in Milan (concert and recording) with La Verdi Orchestra; Rigoletto in Genoa under Luisi and in Bogota; Handel’s Rinaldo and Admeto at the Theater an der Wien; Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze at the Maggio Musicale in Florence; Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques in Nancy and Paris; La Bohème in Rome and in Amsterdam; I Puritani in Florence; Rigoletto(Sparafucile) at the Sferisterio Opera Festival in Macerata; Le Duc d’Albe in London for Opera Rara. He had just starred in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Vespers on US tour and at the Wigmore Hall in London with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Plans include: revivals of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with the Monteverdi Choir and John Eliot Gardiner in Versailles; Die Zauberflöte in Liège under Paolo Arrivabeni; Verdi’s Requiem in Manchester; Guglielmo Ratcliff at the Wexford Festival Opera; Turandot in Montpellier; I Due Foscari in Amsterdam; Faccio's Hamlet at the Bregenzer Festspiele; Semiramide in London for Opera Rara; Verdi’s Requiemin Manchester; Die Schöpfung at the Teatro Regio in Turin; Turandot in Montpellier; Roméo et Juliettein Beirut. In 2016 he will have his first solo recital at the Wigmore Hall in London.

Mariangela Sicilia - Musetta*

Operalia Prize winner Mariangela Sicilia is one of the most exciting young sopranos to have come out of Italy in the last few years; she has been seen, in the past seasons, in Massenet's Cléopâtre (Charmionand) at the Salzburg Festival under the baton of Vladimir Fedoseyev; Il Viaggio a Reims, La Donna del Lago (Zedda conducting), L'Italiana in Algeri and L’Inganno Felice at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro; Cilea's L'Arlesiana at the Wexford Festival Opera and in Jesi; Rigoletto in Bari (d. Kief). Mariangela Sicilia has recently performed L’Elisir d'Amore in Madrid (c. Piollet; d. Michieletto) and in Monte Carlo (c. Stutzman); La Pietra del Paragone (Chatelet) with Jean Christophe Spinosi and Musetta in La Bohème (c. Elder) in Paris Opera; Petite Messe Solennelle in Saint-Etienne under Zedda;Guillaume Tell at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, (c. Mariotti; d. Vick); Orphée et Eurydice at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Verdi’s Quattro Pezzi Sacri (Concertgebouw) and new production ofBenvenuto Cellini (Térésa- Dutch National Opera & Ballet) directed by Terry Gilliam and conducting by Mark Elder in Amsterdam; Adriana Lecouvreur in Paris.

Future plans include Guglielmo Ratcliff at the Wexford Festival Opera under Francesco Cilluffo; La Scala di Seta (Franklin conducting and Michieletto directing) and Mozart’s Requiem in Liège under Paolo Arrivabeni in Liège; Turandot (Liù) in Montpellier; La Petite Messe Solennelle in Palermo and in Amsterdam at the Concertgebouw; Mozart Requiem in Parma; Carmen at the Teatro Regio in Turin.