Daniela Dessi

Daniela Dessi is a leading Italian lyric soprano, active on the international operatic and concert stages, and admired for a large and diverse repertory extending from Monteverdi to Prokofiev. Born in Genoa, she studied piano and singing at the Conservatory of Parma and the Accademia Chigiana of Sienna. She began her career with a victory in the 1980 RAI [Italian Radio] International Competition. This led immediately to engagements to sing concerts in the major halls of Europe and in Tokyo. Included in her concert repertory are Haydn's The Creation, Verdi's Requiem, Rossini's Stabat Mater, and Petite Messe Solennelle. She has sung at the major Italian, European and American opera houses, such as La Scala, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Salzburg Festival, the Zurich Opera, Rome Opera, and the Metropolitan in New York under such conductors as Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Claudio Abbado, Bruno Bartoletti, Zubin Mehta, and such stage directors as Franco Zeffirelli and Liliana Cavani. She is a lirico/dramatic soprano, judging from a list of some of the sixty or more roles she has in her active repertory, including Vitella in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, as well as the major roles in Les vêpres sicilienne, Madama Butterfly, Giordano's La Cena delle beffe, La Bohème, Traviata, La Pagliacci, Falstaff, Andrea Chénier, Simon Boccanegra, and Don Carlos. Dessì has made numerous recordings including Verdi's Ernani, La traviata, Don Carlos, and Falstaff, Puccini's La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, and Boito's Mefistofele.