Anna Bonitatibus (mezzosoprano)

Profile  Italian mezzo-soprano. The range of Anna Bonitatibus's interpretations now includes over 50 operas. Particularly noteworthy are her appearances in the most important and familiar works of Mozart and Rossini: thanks to these she has performed on Europe's most prestigious stages and in concert halls worldwide. The Baroque repertoire sees her as the protagonist as well as Neapolitan comic opera and French repertoire.

Study Anna Bonitatibus, a native of the Basilicata region of Italy, began studying music at the age of nine. She received a diploma with honours in both Piano and Voice. After winning several International Voice Competitions, she decided to focus on 18th century and on the Belcanto repertoire and technique.

Performances Her first recording in 1992 was La Griselda by Antonio Vivaldi. Since then, she has performed works from the Baroque Period by Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Porpora, Bononcini, and Scarlatti, as well as Neapolitan comic operas by Cimarosa, Pergolesi, Paisiello, and Pavesi, Mozart masterpieces, and the leading roles in Rossini’s operas. Anna Bonitatibus has appeared frequently in the world’s most famous opera houses and concert halls such as Covent Garden in London; Nederlandse Opera and Conzertgebouw in Amsterdam; Bavarian State Opera and Rundfunk Bayerisch in Munich; Zurich Staatsoper; Salzburg Festival; Dresden Opera; Tchaikovsky Concert Hall of Moscow; Teatro Real of Madrid; Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris; Monnaie Theatre in Brussels; Wien Staatsoper, Konzerthaus and Theater an der Wien; Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome; Salle Pleyel in Paris, and Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

In 1999, she made her debut at the La Scala Opera House in Milan in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, conducted by Maestro Riccardo Muti. In that same year, she also sang Adalgisa in a new production of Bellini’s Norma at Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

In 2000, for the inauguration of the Lyon Opera Season, Anna sang Angelina in Rossini’s Cenerentola, a role she has performed many times at Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Dresden Opera, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Zurich Opera, Rome Opera, Las Palmas, Moscow, and Frankfurt. Angelina and Rosina in Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia, which she performed in Florence and Teatro Regio in Parma, are among her favourite roles. Thanks to her performance of Cherubino in Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro (London, Paris, Munich, Turin, Valencia), Sesto in Clemenza di Tito (Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Budapest), and Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Tenerife, Moscow, Genoa), Anna Bonitatibus is a foremost interpreter of en travesti roles.



In 2003, she inaugurated the opera season at the Carlo Felice Opera House in Genoa, portraying Marchesa Melibea in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims. Anna Bonitatibus frequently performs French repertoire: in 2005, at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, she sang Orphée in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, the version that Berlioz revised for the famous mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot. She appeared in the roles of the Muse/Nicklaus in a new production of the integral version of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann staged by Lyon Opera, she sang the title role of L’Enfant et les sortilèges by Ravel (Verona), and she performed Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther in Jesi.

In the 2006-07 season, the artist made her Covent Garden debut in Handel’s Orlando, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, and returned that same season for Cherubino. During the 2008-9 season, Anna Bonitatibus performed Rosina in Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia, in Baden-Baden, the role of Piacere in Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at Teatro Real in Madrid, Juno in the new production of Cavalli’s Ercole amante in Amsterdam, Cherubino at Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Nerone in Handel’s Agrippina, and Dorabella in a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Zurich Opera House. She closed the Rossini Festival in Pesaro in 2009 with Petite Messe Solennelle.

During the 2009-10 season, the artist made a hugely successful debut as Isabella in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri in Cologne and sang Ottavia in an elegant production of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea directed by Robert Carsen in Wien. In February 2010, she received excellent reviews for her debut in a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte with the Cleveland Orchestra directed by Maestro Franz Welser-Möst. In 2010 she made her debut at the Wien Staatsoper (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) in a season characterized by many Rossini’s titles (Petite Messe Solennelle at TCE in Paris, L’Italiana in Algeri, Stabat Mater in Cleveland and Anversa, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Catania and Munich) and by the recitals Un Rendez-vous dedicated to the her latest CD (in Jesi, Hamburg, Naples). Her 2010-11 season ends with the debut in Mozart's Mitridate re di Ponto at Opernfestspiele-Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

In the 2011-12 season, among others, she’ll made her debut in the role title of Cavalli’s Didone in Caen, Luxembourg and Paris with William Christie as conductor, Le Nozze di Figaro at Covent Garden in London conducted by Antonio Pappano, and new appointments with Rossini, Monteverdi, Mozart, in Italy and abroad.

Conductors Anna Bonitatibus has sung with conductors Ivor Bolton, René Jacobs, Riccardo Muti, Louis Langrée, Daniele Callegari, Marc Minkowski, Thomas Hangelbrook, Alberto Zedda, Bruno Campanel-la, Alan Curtis, Romano Gandolfi, Marcello Viotti, Ottavio Dantone, Sir Charles Mackerras, Myung-Whun Chung, Lorin Maazel, Jeffrey Tate, Will Humburg, Franz Welser-Möst, Nicola Luisotti, and William Christie.

Directors She has worked with stage directors Roberto De Simone, Jerome Savary, Luca Ronconi, Sir Jonathan Miller, Dario Fo, Irina Brook, Beppe de Tomasi, Emilio Sagi, Laurent Pelly, Bartlett Sher, Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Toni Servillo, Jean-Louis Martinoty, David Alden, Jürgen Flimm, Andreas Homoki, Kasper Holten.

Discography Anna Bonitatibus has made many recordings, the latest of which is Un Rendez-vous (Ariette e Canzoni by Gioachino Rossini) released by the Sony Music/RCA Red Label and Haydn’s L’Infedeltà costante released by the DHM/Sony Classical label. She has worked with several record labels: Deutsche Grammophon for Handel’s Tolomeo and Vivaldi’s Andromeda liberata; Virgin for Scarlatti’s Lettere amorose, Deidamia and Un’Opera immaginaria by Handel; Naxos for Verdi’s Falstaff ; Fenice for Rédemption by César Frank; and also BMG, Abeille, Oehms, and Avie. She appears in several opera DVDs: Handel’s Tamerlano for Arthaus; Rossini’s Barber of Sevillle for Hardy Classic; Ercole Amante by Cavalli for Opusarte, Così fan tutte (Arthaus) and the recently released DVD of L’Incoronazione di Poppea, conducted by William Christie and directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi.

http://www.annabonitatibus.com/
http://www.unrendez-vous.com/