Barbara Frittoli
Representation: UK
Born in Milan, Barbara Frittoli graduated with the highest honours at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan where she studied with Giovanna Canetti.
Among her career’s most remarkable performances were Le nozze di Figaro (Countess) in Ferrara, Otello (Desdemona) at the Salzburger Österfestspiele and at the Teatro Regio di Torino under Abbado, Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi) at the Wiener Staatsoper, and at the Ravenna Festival under Muti and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Colin Davis, Verdi Requiem with the Berliner Philarmoniker in Paris under Abbado, Don Giovanni at the Salzburger Festspiele with Maazel, Turandot (Liù) at the Opéra Bastille under Georges Prêtre and on tour in China with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Mehta. In 1998 she gained a great personal success in a recital with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala conducted by Muti in Beirut and subsequently in Jerusalem in Verdi’s Requiem again with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala and Muti. She has recently returned to Metropolitan as Desdemona in Otello with James Levine, a role which she has performed in Brussels (Pappano), Vienna, Nice, Florence (Mehta), and in which she made her Munich debut under the baton of Mehta. Recent engagements also include Don Giovanni (Donna Anna) at Glyndebourne, at the Wiener Staatsoper and at Metropolitan, the role of Elettra in Idomeneo in Dresden under the baton of Colin Davis, Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito and the title role in Luisa Miller at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and her return to the Opéra National de Paris in Simon Boccanegra and Otello. Roles at Teatro alla Scala have included Leonora in Il Trovatore, Alice in Falstaff, Desdemona in Otello, Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and Anaide in Mosè in Egitto.
Her repertoire further includes Pergolesi’s Flaminio (Naples), Mimì La Bohème (Wiener Staatsoper and the Met), Micaela Carmen (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Metropolitan Opera), Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Salzburg Festival with Maazel), Sifare in Mitridate, re di Ponto (Torino and in Paris with Christophe Rousset), Medora Il corsaro (Torino), Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffmann (Wiener Staatsoper), Alice in Falstaff (Rome under Daniele Gatti, Firenze with Pappano and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden under Haitink), Amelia in Simon Boccanegra (Bologna with Gatti), as Marguerite in Faust (Genoa), as Luisa Miller (Metropolitan with James Levine) and in the role of Elisabetta in Don Carlo (debuted in Florence with Mehta) and Liu Turandot at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona.
Barbara Frittoli’s vast concert repertoire includes Haydn Die Schöpfung, Verdi Requiem (Muti, Chailly, Mehta & Gergiev), Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem (Pappano), Vier lezte Lieder, Mozart’s C minor Mass K427 (Colin Davis), Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater (Muti), Rossini’s Stabat Mater (Chailly), Gounod’s cantata Mors et vita (Viotti) and Mahler’s Symphony No.4 (Haitink). She also appeared as soloist in a Liederabend (Beethoven, Schubert, Duparc) at the Bologna Festival.
Barbara Frittoli’s discography includes many recordings, such as Puccini’s Il Trittico for Decca, Il barbiere di Siviglia for Teldec and Il viaggio a Reims conducted by Abbado for Sony, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Muti for EMI, Turandot (Liù) with Mehta for BMG, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, I Pagliacci (Nedda) with Chailly and La Bohème (Mimì) with Mehta, CDs of Mozart arias with Charles Mackerras and of Verdi arias with Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra for Erato.
Engagements this season include Alice Falstaff in Torino, Fiordiligi at the Wiener Staatsoper with Muti, Liederabend at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, title role Suor Angelica both at La Scala, Milan with Chailly and at the Metropolitan Opera, New York with Levine, Verdi Requiem with Jurowski and the London Philharmonic and Countess Le Nozze di Figaro at Covent Garden with Mackerras. Engagements in 2008/2009 include Giorgetta Il Tabarro at the BBC Proms with Noseda, Amelia Simon Boccanegra for San Francisco Opera with Runnicles, Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte in Tokyo with Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic, Donna Anna Don Giovanni at the Met with Langrée, Verdi Requiem at Covent Garden, Symphony Hall, Birmingham and Carnegie Hall, New York and Countess Le Nozze di Figaro at Teatro Real, Madrid.
Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Lucy Goddard
