Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia Bartoli OMRI (; born 4 June 1966) is an Italian mezzo-soprano, widely known for her renditions of the music of Bellini, Handel, Mozart, Rossini, and Vivaldi, as well as 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." She has been one of the most popular opera stars of recent years.

Early life Bartoli was born in Rome. Her parents, Silvana Bazzoni and Pietro Angelo Bartoli, were professional singers and her first music teachers. Cecilia first performed publicly at age nine as the shepherd boy in Tosca. At 19, she made her singing debut on the Italian TV variety show Fantastico. She did not win the show's competition, but was asked to sing with Paris Opera for a concert in homage to Maria Callas.

Performing career 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.

Work in Baroque music

In addition to her focus on Mozart and Rossini, Bartoli has also 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 Mission, which premiered the works of Agostino Steffani, a lesser-known Baroque composer. She also produced a CD of his works, as well as an extended performance video that portrays her as the priest-composer Agostino in the Palace of Versailles. The video is known for its historic and visual accuracy of the Baroque period, conveyed through her performance, as well as the setting, wardrobe, and cinematography."

She performed the Olympic Hymn at the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, held in Milan's San Siro stadium.

Work in bel canto In 2007/08, Bartoli studied and recorded the early 19th-century repertoire–the era of Italian Romanticism and bel canto. She especially focused on the work of the legendary singer Maria Malibran, the 200th anniversary of whose birth was celebrated in March 2008. The album Maria was released in September 2007. In May 2008, Bartoli sang the title role, written for Malibran, in a revival of Fromental Halévy's 1828 opera Clari at the Zurich Opera. In June 2010, she sang the title role of Bellini's Norma for the first time with conductor Thomas Hengelbrock in a concert at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. In March 2011, she toured five Australian cities with two programs drawn from Sacrificium and Maria.

Administration career

Salzburg Whitsun Festival

In 2012, Bartoli became the artistic director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, an extension of the traditional Salzburg Festival, which produces performances during Whitsun (Pentecost) weekend. Forgoing the academic programming of her predecessors, she reformulated the festival's programming—returning to "the old recipe of organizing beautiful programs and inviting great artists"—resulting in record ticket sales and placing the festival on the international opera calendar. In 2012, she sang Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare, in 2013 the title role in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, and in 2014 Rossini's La Cenerentola.

Opéra de Monte-Carlo In December 2019, it was announced that Bartoli would succeed Jean-Louis Grinda as the director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, effective on 1 January 2023. She became the first woman to hold the position.

Personal life Bartoli lives with her husband, the Swiss bass-baritone Oliver Widmer, in Zollikon on the north shore of Lake Zurich, Switzerland, and in Rome part of the year. The couple married in 2011 after twelve years together. Bartoli lived in Monaco in the early 2010s.

Awards and honours Bartoli was appointed Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1995), and Commander of Monaco's Order of Cultural Merit (November 1999).

In 2003, she received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music at the Classic Brit Awards.

In 2010, she was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music from University College Dublin.

In 2011, she won a fifth Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance for Sacrificium. In 2012, she was voted into the magazine's Gramophone's Hall of Fame. She is the 2012 recipient of the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize.

Discography Opera

Rossini: La scala di seta (Fonit Cetra, 1988) Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (Decca, 1989) Mozart: Così fan tutte (Erato, 1990) Mozart: Lucio Silla (Teldec 1991) Rossini: La Cenerentola (Decca, 1993) Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Decca, 1993) Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (DG, 1994) Mozart: La clemenza di Tito (Decca, 1995) Haydn: L'anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice (Decca, 1997) Rossini: Il turco in Italia (Decca, 1998) Mozart: Mitridate (Decca, 1999) Haydn: Armida (Teldec 2000) Handel: Rinaldo (Decca, 2000) Mozart: Don Giovanni (Arthaus, 2001, DVD) Bellini: La sonnambula (Decca, 2008) Halevy: Clari (Decca, 2008, DVD) Rossini: Otello (Decca, 2012) Bellini: Norma (Decca, 2013)

Recitals with orchestra

Rossini Arias (1989) Mozart Arias (1991) Rossini Heroines (1992) Mozart Portraits (1994) Mozart Arias (1996) The Vivaldi Album (1999) Cecilia and Bryn (1999) Gluck Italian Arias (2001) The Salieri Album (2003) Opera Proibita (2005) Viva Vivaldi! Arias & Concertos (Arthaus, 2005, DVD) Maria (A Tribute to Maria Malibran) (2007) Sacrificium (Arias written for castrati) (2009) Mission (Arias and duets of Agostino Steffani) (2012) St. Petersburg (2013) Antonio Vivaldi (2018) Farinelli (2019) Queen of Baroque (2020) Unreleased (2021)

Recitals with piano Rossini Recital (1990) If You Love Me – "Se tu m'ami": Eighteenth-century Italian Songs (1992) The Impatient Lover – Italian Songs by Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, Haydn (1993) Chant D'Amour (1996) An Italian Songbook (1997) Live in Italy (1998)

Recitals with cello Dolce Duello: Cecilia & Sol – with Sol Gabetta (Decca Classics) released 11 November 2017

Sacred Rossini: Stabat Mater (1990) Mozart: Requiem (1992) Scarlatti: Salve Regina, Pergolesi: Stabat Mater, Salve Regina (1993) Rossini: Stabat Mater (1996)

Cantatas Rossini Cantatas Volume 2

Compilations A Portrait (1995) The Art of Cecilia Bartoli (2002) Sospiri (2010)