* En anglais uniquement
Italian soprano
Monica Piccinini has worked with Europe's top conductors of period-performance Baroque opera, appearing in many major opera houses. She has also performed music from
Mozart forward and has appeared in lead roles on several recordings, often surmounting the challenges that come with encountering unknown repertory.
Piccinini was born in the Italian city of Reggio Emilia. Her first musical interest was the violin, in which field she obtained a degree before switching to voice and taking lessons with Elena Kriatchko and Franca Mattiucci.
Piccinini completed master classes in Baroque singing (with
Rossana Bertini and
Claudio Cavina) and in vocal music of the 20th century (with
Erik Werba and
Dorothy Dorow). From the beginning she has caught the ears of and won approval from important conductors. Her stage debut came at the Teatro Real in Madrid under the renowned
Jordi Savall, and she then appeared as Valletto-Fortuna at the Teatro Colón in Salamanca, Spain, with
Rinaldo Alessandrini as director, as Amore in the rarely performed La virtù degli strali d'amore of Cavalli under
Fabio Biondi at the Teatro Malibran in Venice, and in Pergolesi's L'Olimpiade at the Krakow Theater under
Ottavio Dantone. She has continued to work with each of these conductors in multiple productions, adding Classical-period works to her repertory (with
Chiara Banchini and the U.S.-based
Ensemble 415 she
recorded another rarity,
Boccherini's Stabat Mater). In 2007 her lead performance in Porpora's sacred Notturni per i Defunti was recorded for the Fuga Libera label, and her discography also includes several recordings on the
Brilliant label, including those of music by
Ravel and
Dallapiccola. In the 2015-2016 season she performed at La Scala in Milan (as Domigetta) in
Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppeal. In 2018
Piccinini was heard in a Glossa label
recording of the oratorio San Francesco de Sales by Francesco Feo, barely performed since its 1734 composition.