The great baritone Leo Nucci will run an exceptional masterclass at Villa Medici Giulini from Thursday, May 23rd to Sunday, May 26th, ending with a concert that will take place in the Teatrino on Sunday, May 26 at 4.30 pm.
His career has known only triumphs, first among all Rigoletto of which he was an unforgettable interpreter.
He has received in his career the most important artistic awards in the world of opera such as: Accademia delle Muse of Firenze, he is an honorary member of the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna, he was awarded as Verdi d’oro of Busseto, Premio Pavarotti d’oro, Arena di Verona d’oro, Premio Enrico Caruso d’oro, Premio Gigli d’oro, Premio Giuseppe Di Stefano, Premio Piero Cappuccilli, Premio Tito Gobbi, Premio Tito Schipa, Premio Enzo Dara d’oro, Premio Alfredo Kraus, Premio Luigi Illica and so on. He received six nominations for: The Record Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and he was president of the Verdian Voices Competition in Busseto in 2013/2014. He studied singing privately, from the beginning in Florence in January 1958 with the Maestro Mario Bigazzi, who discovered him, and then he continued his studies with Maestro Giuseppe Marchesi in Bologna and with him he debuted in 1967 in Spoleto as Figaro in Gioacchino Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia, joined by Ruggero Raimondi in the role of Basilio. Maestro Ottaviano Bizzarri was teaching in Milan and convinced him to continue in the profession of opera singer and made him debut in the role of Rigoletto at the Teatro Salieri in Legnago on 19 May 1973 alongside with the soprano Adriana Anelli, his wife, who played the role of Gilda. His debut was triumphant and gave him the opportunity to start a professional career internationally, becoming for forty years the reference baritone in the roles of Rigoletto and Figaro in all the biggest theaters around the world with 546 performances as Rigoletto and 350 performances as Figaro.
At the Teatro alla Scala in 2015 he sang for the last time Il barbiere di Siviglia performing as an encore the Figaro’s Cavatina and in 2019 he sang the last 9 performances of Rigoletto with 7 encores. At the Arena of Verona, he was Rigoletto for nine seasons and, always at the Arena, he was the first Figaro in the history of that theater. In Vienna, he celebrated the Rigoletto 500th production on 4 April 2014. At the Metropolitan in New York, he participated in the new production of Rigoletto in 1989 with Luciano Pavarotti. At the Covent Garden in London, he inaugurated the Season with Rigoletto in 1991. In Parma he was Rigoletto in many lyrical seasons starting with the historic edition of Pierluigi Samaritani with Alfredo Kraus. In 2001, the year dedicated to Verdi, he was the reference baritone at the Teatro alla Scala. He inaugurated the opera season with Il Trovatore in 2000 and with Otello in 2001, both directed by Riccardo Muti.
He debuted in the most famous theatres of the world such as: the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in the role of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini on 30 January 1977, at the Arena of Verona in 1977 in the role of Mercuzio in Romeo e Giulietta by Gounod, at the Covent Garden in London in 1978 in the role of Miller in Verdi’s Luisa Miller with Katia Ricciarelli and Luciano Pavarotti under the direction of Lorin Maazel, at the Vienna State Opera in 1979 in the role of Figaro in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, at the Metropolitan in New York as Renato in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera with Luciano Pavarotti and Katia Ricciarelli, at the Teatro Regio of Parma in 1977 as Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca, at the Zurich Opernhaus in 1982 as Miller in Verdi’s Luisa Miller, at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in 1983 with Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1980 in the role of Renato in Verdi’s Un ballo in Maschera with Luciano Pavarotti and Renata Scotto, at the Paris Opera in 1982 with Verdi’s Un ballo in Maschera, at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich in 1979 in Verdi’s Un ballo in Maschera.
He performed in 23 different roles at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan where he acted for a total of 242 performances. He recorded for this Theatre 2 record editions of Aida by Verdi under the direction of Claudio Abbado and Lorin Maazel, Don Carlos by Verdi with the conduction of Claudio Abbado, Il Trovatore and Otello by Verdi with the direction of Riccardo Muti, Simone Boccanegra by Verdi with the direction of Sir Georg Solti, Tosca by Puccini with the direction of Riccardo Muti, Gianni Schicchi by Puccini with the direction of Riccardo Chailly, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia conducted by Riccardo Chailly and the DVD with the concert for the thirty years of Scala.
He run Masterclasses at the George Solti Academy in Castiglion della Pescaia, at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, at the G.B Martini Conservatory in Bologna, at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan, at the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn in Vienna, at the Hoperhaus Theatre in Zurich, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, at the Civic Opera House in Chicago, at the Municipal Theatre in Santiago de Chile, at the CVASP Theatre in Beijing, at the Madrid Conservatory, at the Piacenza Municipal Theatre, at the Gaffurio Academy in Lodi, at Sipario Castiglionese where he had the satisfaction of seeing several students take up their career.
Today is Grand Officer of the Italian Republic, Kammersänger of Austria, Ehrenmitglied Wiener Staatsoper, Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Des Lettres of France, Medalla de oro al Merito en las Bellas Artes of Spain, Ambrogino d’Oro of the City of Milan and he was also Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF.
