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Photo: From the artist’s archives
Roberto Abbondanza
Born and educated in Rome, Roberto Abbondanza
studied vocal techniques under the direction of
Isabel Gentile. At a very young age, he became a
member of the RAI radio and television choir, and
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then of L’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in
Rome. Abbondanza’s participation in the recording
of a film version of G. Verdi’s Rigoletto with stage
director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle launched his artistic
career. Interested in performance of the art song
repertoire, he took up studies at the Mozarteum in
Salzburg and the Musikhochschule in Cologne with
Hartmut Höll. He specializes, however, in opera
singing, and early music in particular. The artist
has been a finalist in the following competitions:
the Toti Dal Monte in Treviso, the Sperimentale in
Spoleto, the Laboratorio Lirico in Alessandria and
L’Accademia Barocca in Rome. He collaborates
regularly with Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante,
Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano,
perform with such conductors as Zubin Mehta,
Jordi Savall, Ennio Morricone et al. He performs on
the world’s most important stages, and has appeared
as a guest artist at concerts in Paris, Bordeaux,
Lyon, Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Venice,
Milan, Monte Carlo, Oslo, New York, Washington,
Toronto, Mexico City, Tokyo, Kyoto, Singapore,
São Paulo, İstanbul, Taipei and Hong Kong.
Roberto Abbondanza’s interests in contemporary
music have borne fruit in performances of works
by, among others, S. Barber, L. Bernstein, B. Britten,
C. Boccadoro, F. Donatoni, L. Nono, A. Schönberg,
I. Stravinsky, and P. Glass. Last season, he
performed mainly on stages in his homeland of
Italy, preparing a wide range of roles in works
including Mozart’s Così fan tutte (Terni, Narni –
Operaincanto), Puccini’s Tosca (Stagione Estiva
Teatro San Carlo in Naples) and Strauss’ Salome
(Teatro Comunale in Florence). He also took part
in a staging of C. Monteverdi’s Il combattimento
di Tancredi e Clorinda under the direction of
Rinaldo Alessandrini in Copenhagen, which was
broadcast by Danish radio and television. The artist
has made many recordings for Virgin, Opus 111,
Naxos, Stradivarius, Dynamic, Tactus and Fonè.
His recording of A. Scarlatti’s oratorio Caino was
honored with a Diapason d’Or, while his recording
of Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda won the
Choc de l’Année award in 1999.