
Cecilia Bartoli
Biography
Cecilia Bartoli OMRI (born 4 June 1966) is an Italian mezzo-soprano widely known in the music of Bellini, Handel, Mozart, Rossini and Vivaldi and for lesser-known music of the Baroque and Classical periods. She has also sung soprano and alto repertory. Bartoli is considered a singer with an unusual timbre. According to Nicholas Wroe in 2001, her voice was known for its "fully developed sumptuousness of the lower register, the vibrancy of the middle range...the top was limpid and powerful", and she was one of the most popular opera singers of recent years. Bartoli was born in Rome. Her parents, Silvana Bazzoni and Pietro Angelo Bartoli, were professional singers and gave her her first music lessons. She first performed publicly at age nine as the shepherd boy in Tosca. Bartoli later studied at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome. At the age of 19, she made her singing debut on the Italian television show Fantastico. She did not win the competition but was asked to sing with Paris Opera for an homage concert for Maria Callas. Bartoli made her professional opera debut in 1987 at the Arena di Verona. The following year she undertook the role of Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville at the Cologne Opera, the Schwetzingen Festival and the Zurich Opera earning rave reviews. Working with conductors Daniel Barenboim and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bartoli focused on Mozart roles, such as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Dorabella in Così fan tutte, and from then on her career developed internationally. In 1990, she made her debut at the Opéra Bastille as Cherubino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and her debut at the Hamburg State Opera as Idamantes in Mozart's Idomeneo, followed by her La Scala debut as Isolier in Le comte Ory in 1991, a performance that solidified her reputation as one of the world's leading Rossini singers. In 1996, Bartoli made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Despina in Così fan tutte and returned in 1997 to sing the title role of La Cenerentola and in 1998 to sing the role of Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. In 2000, she sang in another Mozart soprano role, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 2001, she made a long-awaited Royal Opera House debut, taking the roles of Euridice and the Genio in the London stage premiere of Haydn's L'anima del filosofo. In addition to Mozart and Rossini, Bartoli has spent much of her career performing and recording Baroque and early Classical era music by such composers as Gluck, Vivaldi, Haydn and Salieri. In early 2005, she sang Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare. She often performs with the Baroque ensemble Il Giardino Armonico. In 2012, Bartoli produced a project entitled Mission, which premiered the works of Agostino Steffani, a lesser-known Baroque composer. Bartoli produced the music of the composer in CD form as well as an extended music video that portrays her as the priest-composer Agostino in the palace of Versallies. The video is known for its historic and visual accuracy of the Baroque period. Cecilia Bartoli's performance and production of Mission reflect the music and aesthetic of Steffani's time period through the setting, wardrobe, and cinematography." ... Source: Article "Cecilia Bartoli" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For(32 works)

DAS!
1991DAS!
1991

Great Performances
1971Great Performances
1971

Vivement dimanche
1998Vivement dimanche
1998

Wetten, dass..?
1981Wetten, dass..?
1981

Bambi
1948Bambi
1948

Le monde est à vous
1987Le monde est à vous
1987

Kulturzeit
1995Kulturzeit
1995

Kulturplatz
2004Kulturplatz
2004

Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri
2018Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri
2018

The Blu-ray Experience: Opera & Ballet
2008The Blu-ray Experience: Opera & Ballet
2008

Le Nozze di Figaro
1998Le Nozze di Figaro
1998

Cecilia Bartoli & Friends
2019Cecilia Bartoli & Friends
2019

Mozart: Don Giovanni (Zurich Opera House)
2001Mozart: Don Giovanni (Zurich Opera House)
2001

Il Barbiere di Siviglia
1988Il Barbiere di Siviglia
1988

La Cenerentola
1997La Cenerentola
1997

NBC's Milan Cortina Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
2026NBC's Milan Cortina Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
2026

Paisiello Nina
2002Paisiello Nina
2002

Semele
2007Semele
2007

Cecilia & Bryn at Glyndebourne
1999Cecilia & Bryn at Glyndebourne
1999

Ariodante
2017Ariodante
2017

Hotel Metamorphosis @ Festival of Salzburg 2025
2025Hotel Metamorphosis @ Festival of Salzburg 2025
2025

Viva Vivaldi
2000Viva Vivaldi
2000

Rossini: Il turco in Italia (Opernhaus Zurich)
2002Rossini: Il turco in Italia (Opernhaus Zurich)
2002

Handel's Ariodante
2017Handel's Ariodante
2017

Mozart Requiem
1991Mozart Requiem
1991

Mozart: Così Fan Tutte (Zurich Opera House)
2000Mozart: Così Fan Tutte (Zurich Opera House)
2000

Rossini: La Cenerentola
2001Rossini: La Cenerentola
2001

Bartoli in Italy
1998Bartoli in Italy
1998

Cecilia Bartoli Sings Haydn
2001Cecilia Bartoli Sings Haydn
2001

Rossini Otello
2014Rossini Otello
2014

Mission
2013Mission
2013

Mozart - Cecilia Bartoli, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
2003Mozart - Cecilia Bartoli, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
2003