Full Biography - Maria Billeri - sito ufficiale del soprano italiano - official website of the italian soprano

Full Biography

The soprano Maria Billeri soprano was born in Pisa (Italy).

After studying with Stefania Cappozzo Turchini, she graduated very young at the Conservatory "Girolamo Frescobaldi" of Ferrara (Italy). At the same time she studied piano with Rossana Bottai.
Afterwards she followed singing master courses with Ettore Campogalliani, Magda Olivero, Talmage Fauntleroy, Yva Barthelèmy and Claudio Desderi.
She graduated with first-class honours from her Music Master in lyrical-theatrical singing at the Musical Institute "Pietro Mascagni" in Livorno.
For the study of the scores she uses some precious collaboration of Mrs. Pieralba Soroga.

She won a number of National and International Singing Competitions, such as: "Càscinalirica", first place, "Voci Mascagnane", first place, "Prima Scrittura", "Vincenzo Bellini", "AS.LI.CO.", "Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition" in Philadelphia, "Puccini e il suo tempo" (Rosetum) in Milano.

She made her debut at the age of 22 in Jesi (Italy), singing the role of Dama in Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi (Conductor Filippo Zigante, Director Beppe De Tommasi). Her debut in a leading Opera role was with Mimì in La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini in the Theatres of Bergamo, Cremona, Brescia e Como, under the conduction of Stefano Ranzani and the direction of Nanni Garella.

From now on her international carrier boasts a great number of roles: Virtù in L'incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi (Teatro Comunale of Firenze, Conductor Jan Latham-Koenig, Director Luc Bondy); Amelia in Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi (Teatro Regio of Torino, Conductor Daniel Oren, Director Sylvano Bussotti; Theatres of Pisa, Como, Rovigo, Ravenna and Trento, Conductor Antonello Allemandi e Giancarlo Andretta, Director Xavier Albertì); Micaela in Carmen by Georges Bizet (Pisa, Lucca, Mantova, Conductor Claudio Desderi e Marco Balderi, Director Josè Carlos Plaza); Adalgisa in Norma by Vincenzo Bellini (Pisa, Lucca, Livorno, Siena, Conductor Alessandro Pinzauti, Director Pier Paolo Pacini ); Elisabetta in Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi (Státní Opera of Prague, Conductor Stefano Pellegrino); Maria in Maria Stuarda by Gaetano Donizetti (Teatro Regio di Torino, Conductor Evelino Pidò, Director Jonathan Miller, cover); Prima Corifèa in Assassinio nella Cattedrale by Ildebrando Pizzetti (Teatro Regio di Torino, Conductor Bruno Bartoletti, Director John Cox); Soprano in Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi (Zagreb, Conductor Pier Giorgio Morandi); Amalia in I Masnadieri by Giuseppe Verdi (Vien, Conductor Marian Vach); Giorgetta in Il Tabarro by Giacomo Puccini (Bergamo, Lucca e Novara, Conductor Fabrizio Maria Carminati, Director Mauro Avogadro); Tosca in Tosca by Giacomo Puccini (Novara, Conductor Fabrizio maria Carminati, Director Massimo Pezzutti); Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini.

She debuted at 2008  Leonora in Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi (with the collaboration of the Fondazione Teatro di Pisa), Nedda in Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo (Collesalvetti, Conductor Mario Menicagli, Director Emanuele Gamba), and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni (Mantova, Conductor Elisabetta Maschio, Director Massimo Scaglione).
During 2009 she is the interpret of the title role of Norma by Vincenzo Bellini in Pisa, at the Teatro Verdi and in Como at the Teatro Sociale, under the conduction of Alessandro Pinzauti and Daniele Rustioni and the direction of Pier Paolo Pacini , in a production that is still going on in the beginning of the 2010.
In February 2010 she returns in Novara to sing Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana and then she is Bèrbera Jonia in I Shardana by Ennio Porrino at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, under the conduction of Anthony Bramall. In July she is again in Cagliari to perform Tosca conducted by Alexander Vedernikov and directed by Mario Pontiggia .
2010 is still the year of the great success of her interpretation of the title role in Medea by Luigi Cherubini in the theatres of the Circuito Lombardo (Cremona, Brescia, Pavia, Como) under the conduction of Antonio Pirolli and the direction of Carmelo Rifici.

Another important debut is as Abigaille in Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi took place in summer 2011 at the 89th Festival of the Arena di Verona, resumption of the historical Opera production of 1991, directed by Giancarlo De Bosio and under the baton of Julian Kovatchev.
In October 2011 she is going to be again Norma at the Teatro Verdi of Sassari, under the conduction of Sergio Alapont and the direction of Andrea Cigni.

In May 2012 she returns to the Teatro Regio di Torino after twelve years to interpret even the druidical priestess, this time under the baton of Michele Mariotti and the direction of Alberto Fassini, resumed by Vittorio Borrelli.
In October 2012 she debuted the role of Elvira in Ernani successful production of the Circuito Lirico Lombardo, with the direction of Andrea Cigni and the conduction of Antonio Pirolli.

In 2013, for the occurrence of the bicentenary of Verdi’s birth, Maria will interpret Abigaille in Nabucco for tre productions: in Palermo (conducted by Renato Palumbo and directed by Saverio Marconi), Avenches (conducted by Nir Kabaretty and directed by Marco Carniti) and Bologna (conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Yoshi Oida). In 2013 she will also debut as Aida at the Theatro Municipal de Sao Paulo (conducted by John Neschling and directed by Marco Gandini) and as Maria in Maria de Rudenz of Gaetano Donizetti in Bergamo (conducted by Sebastiano Rolli and directed by Francesco Bellotto), where she received great appreciations both from the public and from the national and international critics.
Maria Billeri sings for the festivities for the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi singing in concert the II act of Aida under the baton of Francesco Ivan Ciampa, at the Teatro Regio di Parma.

Maria debuted the fearsome role of Turandot by Puccini in Cagliari in the summer of 2014, under the baton of Giampaolo Bisanti and the direction of Pierfrancesco Maestrini.

2015 opens with Turandot again, this time at the Teatro Coccia in Novara, directed by Mercedes Martini and conducted by Matteo Beltrami   and at Baths of Caracalla, direction of Denis Krief and conduction of Juraj Valčhua.
She sings Norma at Gran Teatro La Fenice of Venezia, under the conduction of Gaetano D'Espinosa and the direction of Kara Walker and Abigaille in Nabucco at Theater Pavarotti of Modena and at Theater Pergolesi of Jesi, under the conduction of Aldo Sisillo and the direction of Stefano Monti.

In November 2016 he debuted at Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari again singing Puccini's Turandot in the fortunate production directed by Roberto De Simone (taken by Ivo Guerra) and Giampaolo Bisanti's orchestra conduction.

She returned to the Regio di Torino in April 2018 to debut the difficult role of Giselda in I Lombardi alla prima Crociata by Giuseppe Verdi. The conductor is Michele Mariotti and the direction is by Stefano Mazzonis of Pralafera.

Maria is busy with many concerts and collaborates with the orchestras and the choirs of the RAI (Italian National Television Network) in Torino, Roma and Milano, as well as with the orchestra and choir of “I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano” and with the orchestra “Arturo Toscanini” of Parma, under the baton of Vladimir Delman, Tiziano Severini, Daniel Nazareth, Frank Shipway, Daniele Callegari, Corrado Rovaris, Bruno Casoni and others.
Besides her Opera repertoire, she has an intense Concert activity, ranging from Baroque to Contemporary music. Among others: Petite Messe Solennelle by Gioachino Rossini (Teatro Regio di Torino, Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Caracas, Aquileia, Milano, Como, Pisa, ecc…); La Confederazione dei Sabini con Roma by Giacomo Puccini senior (Lucca); Gioas Re di Giuda by Luigi Boccherini (Lucca); Cantata BWV 30 by Johan Sebastian Bach and the Oratorio San Giovanni Battista by Dino Menichetti (Genova); Stabat Mater by Giovan Battista Pergolesi (Firenze); Stabat Mater by  Tommaso Traetta (Firenze); Cantata BWV 149 by Johan Sebastian Bach and Te Deum by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Pisa, Empoli); Oratorio Agostino d'Ippona by Marco Bargagna. (World Premiere), Responsori e Messa di Requiem by Filippo Maria Gherardeschi (World Premiere), Weihnachts Oratorium by Johan Sebastian Bach (Empoli); M'ama... non m'ama... by Pietro Mascagni and by Rino Becheri (Livorno); Davide Penitente by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Pisa and Grosseto); Missa Brevis "Spatzen-Messe" in C-Dur K220 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Fantasia corale op. 80 by Ludwig van Beethoven, Messa di Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi (Zagreb), Album 1914 by Alberto Savinio (Firenze).

She also has a very important repertoire of Chamber music, including Authors like: Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Franz  Liszt, Gabriel Fauré, Pier Paolo Tosti, Nicola Vaccaj, Darius Milhaud, Claude Debussy, Claudio Monteverdi, Filippo Maria Gherardeschi, Johannes Brahms, Luigi Cherubini, Richard Wagner, Alberto Savinio, Manuel De Falla, Igor Strawinskij and others.

She has recorded for the Bongiovanni Company.

May, 2018

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