Alessandro Corbelli

Alessandro Corbelli (born September 21, 1952) is an Italian operatic baritone singer. One of the world's preeminent singers specializing in Mozart and Rossini, Corbelli has sung in many major opera houses around the world and won admiration for his elegant singing style and sharp characterizations, especially in comic roles.

Career and Roles

Corbelli was born in Turin, Italy in 1952 and studied with Giuseppe Valdengo and Claude Thiolas. He made his debut in 1973 (at the age of twenty-one) in Aosta, Italy as Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto. Subsequently he appeared at La Scala in Milan (singing in all three of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas under conductor Riccardo Muti), and also in such cities as Turin, Verona, Bologna, Florence, and Naples, as well as major opera houses in Switzerland, France, Austria, Germany, England, Spain, Israel, and North and South America. At the beginning of his career Corbelli sang lyric baritone roles, but his natural talent for comedy caused him eventually to be typecast in comic parts. Among the buffo roles he has performed and/or recorded are Dr. Bartolo in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Taddeo in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri, Don Geronio in Rossini’s Il turco in Italia, Dr. Dulcamara in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, and the title role of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. He has frequently showed his versatility by singing two roles from the same opera: Figaro and the Count in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello and the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Guglielmo and Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and Dandini and Don Magnifico in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, among others.

Perhaps the role for which Corbelli is best known is that of Dandini, the valet disguised as a prince in Rossini's La Cenerentola. He recorded this role on the Decca label with conductor Riccardo Chailly in a cast that included Cecilia Bartoli; this production later traveled to the Houston Grand Opera and was televised in 1995. Dandini was also the role in which Corbelli debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1997, in a performance that was also televised. In 2007 he appeared in the Met production of Puccini's Il trittico playing the title role in Gianni Schicchi; the performance was one of six of that Met season transmitted to movie theaters around the world that year. In 2009 Corbelli returned to the Met as Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, again in a performance that was simulcast to movie theaters.

Although primarily associated with Italian-language comic roles, Corbelli’s résumé shows his wide-ranging interests and versatility, including French and German roles (Sulpice in Donizetti's La fille du regiment, Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte), baroque opera (Seneca in Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione di Poppea) and a twentieth-century English-language opera (Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress). He has also sung roles in later Italian comic operas, for instance the title roles in Verdi’s Falstaff and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. He is active in the concert hall as well, performing as a soloist in oratorios and vocal symphonies.

On 26 November 2007, while in London rehearsing for La Cenerentola, Corbelli stepped in at the last minute for a production of L'elisir d'amore, singing the role of Belcore for the second half of the opera from the side of the stage while Ludovic Tézier, who had sung the first half with a throat infection, acted the role.

Vocal Style

Although in recent years Corbelli has sometimes been billed as a bass-baritone (probably because of the roles he sings and the depth and richness his voice has acquired), Corbelli has emphatically described himself as a baritone. Corbelli's voice is not large, but its dark coloring gives it power and heft. He possesses a tight vibrato and great flexibility in coloratura and patter. His diction is always razor-sharp and he points up the text brilliantly, particularly in recitatives. His stage presence is commanding (despite his short stature), and he excels in comic timing and subtle characterization.

References

"Great Opera Singers: Alessandro Corbelli", http://www.ateraz.com/opera/corbelli/ (accessed 22 December 2009).

"Interview Alessandro Corbelli" at Forum Opera, www.forumopera.com/v1/actu/corbelli.html (accessed 29 December 2009).

International Who's Who in Classical Music. London: Europa Publications Ltd., 2003.