Giulio Pelligra

Born in Catania, a true Italian lyric tenor with a bright voice and ringing high notes, Giulio Pelligra performs regularly in some of the most prestigious opera houses in Italy and abroad, collaborating with conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Daniel Oren, Renato Palumbo, Donato Renzetti, Riccardo Frizza, Daniele Gatti, Henrik Nánási, and with stage directors such as Graham Vick, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Damiano Michieletto, Henning Brockhaus, Valentina Carrasco, Emma Dante, Calixto Bieito, and Emilio Sagi.

At the age of 20, he made his stage debut singing Almaviva in The Barber of Seville at the Manoel Theatre in Malta, and went on to establish himself as one of the leading interpreters of the bel canto repertoire, with roles such as Percy in Anna Bolena (Rome Opera House, Teatro Regio di Parma, and Karlsruhe), Roberto Devereux (Teatro Massimo Palermo), Robert Leicester in Maria Stuarda (Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Prinzregententheater in Munich), Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Theater St. Gallen, Rennes, Angers, and Nantes), Carlo in Linda di Chamounix (Rome Opera House, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino), and Ernesto in Don Pasquale (Theater Basel).

His Bellini roles include Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Rome Opera), Arturo in I puritani (Teatro Bellini Catania, Seoul Arts Center), Elvino in La sonnambula (Verona Philharmonic Theatre, Las Palmas), and Pollione in Norma (Luglio Musicale Trapanese). His Rossini roles include Arnold in Guillaume Tell (Opera Lombardia), Jago in Otello (Opéra Royal de Wallonie Liège), and Paolo Erisso in Maometto II (Rome).

He has also achieved great success in the Verdi repertoire, including Alfredo in La traviata (Rome Opera, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Turin, Genoa, Bari, Palermo, and Japan), the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto (Sassari, Lithuanian National Opera in Vilnius, Venice), Ismaele in Nabucco (Teatro Massimo Palermo, Teatro Petruzzelli Bari, Theater St. Gallen, Opéra Royal de Wallonie Liège), Henri in Les Vêpres siciliennes (Palermo, Rome), and Gaston in Jerusalem (Theater Freiburg).

Other highlights of his career include Rodolfo in La bohème at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Fra Diavolo at Teatro Massimo Palermo, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette in Pisa and Ravenna, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte (Rome), Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (Palermo, Ravenna, and Salerno), and the title role in Idomeneo (Palermo, Würzburg).

His concert repertoire includes Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s and Verdi’s Requiem, Boccherini’s Stabat Mater, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle.

Among his recent engagements: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari; Don Pasquale at Teatro Bellini in Catania; Rossini’s Otello (title role) in concert with the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Kraków; Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny by Kurt Weill at Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari; Lélio by Berlioz with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague; La traviata in Nantes, Rennes, and Angers; Giovanna d’Arco in Malta; Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the Italian National Symphony Orchestra (RAI); Falstaff and Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège.