Marianna Pizzolato |
Marianna Pizzolato
Those who love the music of Gioachino Rossini and often visit the Rossini Festival in Pesaro are well acquainted with Marianna Pizzolato, a mezzo-soprano from Sicily. She still goes to the “young”, although she boasts a solid track record: it contains the most famous and beloved by the public roles in Rossini’s operas, such as Tancred, The Italian in Algiers, Cinderella, The Barber of Seville. There are also rarities: “Hermione”, “Zelmira”, “Journey to Reims”.
Marianna is the flesh of the flesh of the hot Sicilian land, the love for which she always emphasizes. Her maternal great-grandfathers were related to music, they made instruments, but there are no professional musicians in her family. She grew up in the tiny town of Chiusa Sclafani in the province of Palermo (just over 21 inhabitants) and sang in the local choir named after Matteo Sclafani, the medieval count who founded the town itself. She got a good teacher, Claudia Carbi: Marianne says that it was she who gave her a fundamental school, “pulled out” what was in her voice, taught her how to breathe correctly, how to use the diaphragm. And also helped to realize what artistic conscience and responsibility are. Marianna received her diploma as a singer at the Palermo Conservatory in the class of Elvira Italiano. Shortly after graduating from the conservatory, she learned that an audition was being organized in Piacenza, the purpose of which was to select singers for the production of Rossini’s Tancred. This is how it all started: Marianne was chosen for the main role! Thirty vocalists participated in the audition, and the young Sicilian was number twenty-eight on the list. So, before entering the court of the commission, whose chairman was Enzo Dara, she listened to all the competitors. And then came the official birthday of the singer Marianna Pizzolato: on December 2002, XNUMX, she made her debut in the most difficult role of Tancred in Piacenza.
Since then, her career has taken off in full swing. Marianna is not one of those who stop there: she took a chamber singing course in Nuremberg and had the opportunity to work on the Rossini repertoire with the famous tenor Raul Jimenez. The debut in the role of Tancred was followed by roles in Cimarosa’s Desperate Husband in Caserta, in Vivaldi’s Unfaithful Rosemir in Rome, in Handel’s Xerxes in Paris, in Cavalli’s Love of Apollo and Daphne in La Coruña.
Marianna chose baroque music, eighteenth century music and the Rossini repertoire as the sphere of application of her talent. She has a beautiful, deep, warm mezzo-soprano with coloratura: God himself ordered her to delight the audience in the roles of Isabella and Rosina. The debut at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro was not long in coming: for the first time, the singer from Sicily appeared there in 2003 as Marquise Melibea in Journey to Reims. And just a year later, the public had the opportunity to listen to her in one of the sacred parts of Rossini, Tancrede. In 2006, Marianna sang Isabella in The Italian Girl in Algiers directed by Dario Fo and under the baton of Donato Renzetti (her Lindoro was Maxim Mironov), and in 2008 she gained great personal success with her interpretation of the role of Andromache in the rarely performed opera Hermione “. At the last ROF, she replaced Kate Aldrich in Cinderella.
Music lovers in Bologna and Zurich (Rosina), in Bad Vilbad (Isabella in “The Italian Girl in Algiers” and Malcolm in “Lady of the Lake”), Rome (Tancred) had the opportunity to enjoy her interpretations of roles in Rossini’s operas. She also sang Isabella in Bologna, Klagenfurt, Zurich and Naples, Cinderella in A Coruña, Pamplona and Cardiff, Rosina in Liege. And everywhere the young singer can boast of cooperation with good conductors: it is difficult to talk about the greats in our time, but in her case they are almost always the best on today’s “market”: veteran Nello Santi, Daniele Gatti, Carlo Rizzi, Roberto Abbado, Michele Mariotti. She sang under Riccardo Muti. Alberto Zedda occupies a special place in her art, heart and career, and it cannot be otherwise: the name of the Maestro is rightly associated by many with the concept of exemplary when it comes to Rossini’s music.
Marianna devotes herself not only to her theatrical career. She sings a lot of chamber and church music, actively recording on CDs. Those who have not heard Marianna Pizzolato “live” can easily fill this gap. She recorded Cherubini’s Solemn Mass, Handel’s Fernando, King of Castile, Vivaldi’s Unfaithful Rosemira and Roland Feigning Madness, Cavalli’s The Love of Apollo and Daphne, Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, Cimarosa’s Desperate Husband, “Ascanio in Alba” by Mozart, “Italian in Algiers” and “Hermione”, “Linda di Chamouni” by Donizetti (part of Pierotto).
Marianna Pizzolato is a lively, attractive personality. Perhaps she is not endowed with a dazzlingly bright, unforgettable charisma: however, she still has time to develop her abilities and gain experience. At the last ROF, she showed a very touching Cinderella, although critics disagreed about her vocals. Her very plump figure spoiled the case: the modern stage is full of thin and glamorous singers. In Italy, her success may be hindered by the figure of Daniela Barcellona, who performs in the same roles as her, a very good, more experienced and “hyped” singer, who is very popular with the public and constantly receives high marks from critics. Good luck, Marianne!
