Opera
From 1994 to 2010 I have continuously collaborated as "maestro sostituto"
(répétiteur) at Teatro Regio in Parma, close to conductors
such as John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Oren, Valery Giergiev, Yuri Temirkanov and
singers like Mirella Freni, Alfredo Kraus, Renato Bruson, Leo Nucci, Daniela Dessì.
In the same role I have worked with Teatro Comunale in Florence, with the “Arturo Toscanini”
Foundation, with the Teatro Comunale in Modena and with the NCPA in Beijing.
I have been pianist and assistant in the Masterclasses for singers held by Carlo Bergonzi,
Michele Pertusi, Arrigo Pola and Renata Scotto. I have been accompanist of singing
competitions among which “Voci Verdiane” in Busseto and the “Fedora Barbieri” competition in Saint Petersburg.
The magic of Opera houses is in the “before” and in the “behind”. “Before” the performance,
when during the rehearsals, you feel part of the creation of a living thing, and then “behind”
the scenes, during the performances, where you can see and feel the show becoming alive.
Music is their vital force, paces their breathing, can make them live or die.
The first time I had the chance of working in an opera house, where I have
been fascinated by it, happened when I was very young, working as a scene
répétiteur in 1982 at the Teatro Regio in Parma. It was an historical production
of Verdi's Don Carlo with Boris Christoff, Ghena Dimitrova and Renato Bruson.
Since then Don Carlo is my favourite opera.
Then in 1994, four days before the start of the rehearsals of a production of
Mozart's Don Giovanni, directed by John Eliot Gardiner, I was asked to replace one
of the répétiteurs; with a mixture of bravado and recklessness I agreed and everything went well.
The following year, for the Massenet's Werther, directed by Daniel Oren and starring Alfredo Kraus,
I replaced one of the pianists at the very last minute. Despite the difficult personality of Daniel Oren,
who then was nicer to his Great Dane than to his collaborators, everything went well again.
Since then I worked until 2010 in most of the productions of the Teatro Regio, including the Verdi Festival.
