Daniela Dessi

Daniela Dessì is considered one of the world’s leading sopranos and a reference point for the Verdi, Puccini and Verismo repertoire. Thanks to the beauty of her voice, a strong technique and an intense dramatic talent, she has been able to sing from Monteverdi to Prokof’ev, performing in more than seventy different operas. This versatility has significantly been underlined when, in 2011, she was awarded with the Prize Belcanto “Celletti”, recognized as an “absolute soprano”.

Born in Genoa, she graduated in singing and in piano from the Conservatory “Arrigo Boito” in Parma, later specializing in chamber singing at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. Since her debut in La Serva Padrona by Pergolesi in Genoa, her career started taking wing. Requested in the world major opera houses and festivals, she has collaborated with great conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carlos Kleiber, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Giuseppe Sinopoli. She has worked with the most famous directors, including Roberto De Simone, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Luca Ronconi, Ettore Scola, Giorgio Strehler, Franco Zeffirelli.

It is worth highlighting the breadth of Daniela Dessì’s repertoire. It ranges from Baroque and Eighteenth Century music (with the great interpretations of Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte and La Clemenza di Tito by Mozart with Riccardo Muti conducting) to the works of the early Twentieth Century, mainly focusing on the glorious Nineteenth Century Italian operatic composers (Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi). Complying with her vocal evolution, Daniela Dessì has quickly succeeded in establishing herself as one of the leading interpreters for Verdi, Puccini and Verismo. As a matter of fact, she has been the first Italian singer to perform in her country the three roles of Puccini’s Trittico (Giorgetta, Suor Angelica and Lauretta) in the same evening; she has also been the first and only Western soprano to perform Madama Butterfly in Nagasaki, in Japan, on occasion of a tour arranged by the Festival Pucciniano, Torre del Lago.

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