Hailed by critics for his magnificent voice and stage presence, Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo has established himself as one of the most exciting singers of his generation. Ildebrando D’Arcangelo is well-known to audiences throughout Europe as well as North America. In his extensive work, both in opera and concert, he has collaborated with Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Christopher Hogwood, René Jacobs, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, and the late Sir Georg Solti.
1985
Begins studies at the conservatory of his native Pescara, later also studying under Paride Venturi in Bologna
1989
Wins the Toti dal Monte International Competition in 1989 and again in 1991, after which he makes his stage debut in Così fan tutte. Since then, he has made regular appearances at La Scala di Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, the Opéra Bastille, the Liceu Barcelona, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, and the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome.
1994
Sings Leporello in Parma in a new production of Don Giovanni conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (released on Archiv Produktion CDs). Debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni. Since then he has been a frequent guest there, singing amongst others Figaro and Leporello. He has also appeared with other major US companies including the Lyric Opera of Chicago
1996
Salzburg Festival debut in Le nozze di Figaro
1997
Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan
1999
Figaro at the Met
2002
Salzburg Festival and Covent Garden as Leporello in Don Giovanni
2005
Selim (title role) in Rossini’s Il turco in Italia at Covent Garden
2006
Figaro at La Scala and opposite Anna Netrebko’s Susanna in the new Salzburg Festival production (released by Deutsche Grammophon on CD and DVD); Escamillo in Carmen at Covent Garden
2008
Leporello at the Met; Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with the Vienna State Opera in Japan; Escamillo at the Florence Maggio Musicale; Verdi Requiem at the BBC Proms
2009
Giorgio in Bellini’s I puritani at Bologna’s Teatro Comunale; Don Giovanni, Escamillo in Carmen and Mustafà in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri at the Vienna State Opera; Rossini’s Il turco in Italia at the Theater an der Wien; Don Giovanni in Geneva; and Carmen at Covent Garden. Signs an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon in May. First release: a solo album of Handel arias, issued in September
2010
Don Giovanni (title role) in a new production at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper and at the Vienna State Opera; Alidoro in La Cenerentola at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; Selim in Rossini’s Il turco in Italia at Covent Garden;Escamillo in Carmen with Elina Garanca and Jonas Kaufmann at the Bavarian State Opera and with Anna Netrebko at the Vienna State Opera; Figaro at the Bavarian State Opera
2011
Così fan tutte (Guglielmo), Donizetti’s Anna Bolena (Henry VIII) and Don Giovanni at the Vienna State Opera. Don Giovanni concert performances with Mojca Erdmann, Elina Garanca and Rolando Villazón in Baden-Baden and Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Anna Netrebko at the Salzburg Festival. Future engagements include Don Giovanni at La Scala and Così fan tutte at Los Angeles Opera. Deutsche Grammophon release this year: a solo album of Mozart opera and concert arias
3/2011