Luca Pisaroni

Luca Pisaroni (born 1975) is an Italian operatic bass-baritone, known for his roles in Mozart's operas, but who has steadily expanded his repertoire into the Baroque as well as moving beyond into Rossini.

Although born in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, when he was four years old his family moved to Busseto in Italy – the home of Giuseppe Verdi. There, his father owned a car-repair firm and his mother was a teacher,; it was in that town where, he notes, "you feel Verdi's spirit all over the place!" and where his love of opera began.

After his musical training in Milan, Buenos Aires and New York, he made his professional debut in 2001 in Germany and sang Masetto at the 2002 Salzburg Festival in Mozart's Don Giovanni. It was through his appearance there that he met both the American baritone Thomas Hampson (who was singing the Don) and his daughter Cate. Cate and Pisaroni were subsequently married and now make their home in Vienna.

These early appearances led to engagements throughout the world in the major Mozart operas.

In Busseto, he states that "as a kid, I used to go to the opera with my grandfather, and when I was 11, I already knew I wanted to be an opera singer." While not actually attending the musical academy run by the famous local tenor Carlo Bergonzi—he listened-in to his master classes after school— Pisaroni was influenced by the tenor:

He began his training at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, where he was not comfortable, and so continued his studies for a year in Buenos Aires with Renato Sassola and Rozita Zozulya, and also in New York.

Pisaroni's professional debut in the operatic world was in the title role of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro in Klagenfurt, in 2001. In the same year, he was awarded the Eberhard-Wächter-Medal as "Newcomer of the Season" by the Vienna State Opera.

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