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Genoa-born Francesco Meli combines bel canto refinement with the virile brilliance of the classic Italian tenor. Still in his twenties, he has celebrated successes around Europe in the operas of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Mozart, and in 2006 recorded the role of Elvino opposite Natalie Dessay in La sonnambula.
Francesco Meli was born in Genoa in
1980 and began his singing studies aged
seventeen at his hometown’s School of
Music with soprano Norma Palacios.
In 2002 Francesco debuted in Macbeth,
in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle
and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria at the
Festival dei due Mondi in Spoleto, the
latter broadcast by RAI. He later sang in
Don Giovanni and L'elisir d'amore at
the Opera Giocosa in Savona, as well as
singing the role of Count Almaviva in Il
barbiere di Siviglia with AsLiCo.
He then made his debuts in Lisbon as
Edmondo in Manon Lescaut, in L’elisir
d’amore and La sonnambula in
Bologna, in Les Dialogues des
Carmélites at La Scala with Riccardo
Muti and in Otello, Fidelio, L’elisir
d’amore and Don Pasquale at the
Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, as well as
Così fan tutte in Florence and Verona.
In 2005 he opened the Rossini Festival in
Pesaro in Bianca e Falliero and
Torvaldo e Dorliska then in the two
following seasons sang in Don Giovanni
in Genoa and at La Scala in Idomeneo.
He made his debut in Zurich in Il
barbiere di Siviglia, in Paris and at the
Barbican in Don Giovanni, and opened
new productions of Don Giovanni at La
Scala and in Valencia. He has sung La
sonnambula in Lyon and Paris, to be
released on CD by Virgin.
Francesco has worked with Luc Bondy,
Robert Carsen and Graham Vick, and has
been conducted by Bruno Campanella,
Daniel Harding, Lorin Maazel and
Riccardo Muti.
Among his next engagements are L’elisir
d’amore, Falstaff and Don Pasquale in
Turin, a new production of Così fan
tutte and Falstaff in Paris, Tancredi in
Madrid, Rigoletto at Covent Garden, Il
barbiere di Siviglia and Così fan tutte
in Vienna, the latter conducted by
Riccardo Muti, Anna Bolena and Il
barbiere di Siviglia in Verona. He will
return to the Rossini Festival in Pesaro in
a new production of Ermione.
Born in Genoa in 1979, Matteo Pais
studied at the ‘N. Paganini’ High School
under Maestro Trabucco. He graduated
at the age of 19 with the highest
qualifications and then continued his
studies with Maestro Damerini.
During his last year in the High School
he attended Maestro Marsano’s Master
Classes and immediately after this he
started his collaboration with the Teatro
dell’Opera Giocosa in Savona.
In 2002 he worked in Spoleto at the
Festival of Two Worlds, working on
Macbeth conducted by Riccardo Frizza,
and then worked with conductors
Richard Hickox and Balázs Kocsar.
During the 2005/2006 season he worked
in Deutchlandsberg (Graz) for the
‘Ferruccio Tagliavini’ International
Competition and with the Opera Theatre
in Genoa (Teatro Carlo Felice) where he
performed as soloist in the orchestra
under the direction of Jonathan Webb
and Massimiliano Zanetti. In the same
year he performed in a new production
of Carmina Burana.
In September 2006 he toured in China
with the Orchestra and Chorus of
Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice and
performed at Shanghai Opera in a
production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Recently he acted as spokesperson at a
meeting organized by ‘Giacomo Puccini’s
Centre of Studies’ in Lucca in relation to
the opera Madame Butterfly.
He regularly plays in concert in Italy,
France and Russia and always
accompanies Francesco Meli in recital.