Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia Bartoli, a native of Rome who was recently named a Kammersängerin by the Austrian government, was trained by her mother Silvana Bazzoni. She made her operatic debut in 1987, and in 1988, at just 22 years of age, she worked with Nikolaus Harnoncourt for the first time in a production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Right at the beginning of her career, she also collaborated with Herbert von Karajan, Sir Georg Solti, and Daniel Barenboim. Cecilia Bartoli has been performing for more than 30 years at the most prestigious opera houses and concert halls, as well as at the major international festivals. From early on, she has worked not only with leading symphony orchestras but also with early music ensembles, including Les Arts Florissants, Concentus Musicus Wien, Il Giardino Armonico, Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, La Scintilla, and I Barocchisti. In 2016, she founded the Monte Carlo-based orchestra Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco. The literature of the Baroque, Mozart, and bel canto are the focal points of her repertoire. In the process, she has ensured the rediscovery of many works that had fallen into oblivion. Bartoli has been Artistic Director of the Whitsun Festival in Salzburg since 2012, where in recent years she has appeared as Bellini’s Norma, Rossini’s Cenerentola and Rosina, Maria from Bernstein’s West Side Story, and Handel’s Ariodante and Alcina, among others. In 2023, she performed the role of Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at the Whitsun Festival and appeared in Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo. She has directed the Opéra de Monte Carlo since 2023, becoming the first woman to do so in its history. Bartoli’s CDs and DVDs have sold more than 12 million copies, and she has garnered the Grammy Award no fewer than five times. Among the numerous awards she has received are the Léonie Sonning Music Prize (2010), the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize (2012), and the Polar Music Prize (2016). In 2022, Cecilia Bartoli was named President of Europa Nostra, a society that fosters Europe’s cultural heritage.

Lucerne Festival (IMF) debut on 7 September 1995 in a lieder recital, with György Fischer at the keyboard.

July 2023