This week the Teatro Comunale di Bologna is set to open a new production of Verdi’s masterpiece “Otello.” The company will present the opera with two starry casts including veteran singers and some rising stars. In the role of Desdemona, Mariangela Sicilia will sing her first Desdemona.

A frequent guest of the Teatro Comunale, the soprano studied in the company’s Scuola dell’Opera Italiana during the 2009-10 season and has performed such roles as Liù in “Turandot,” Jemmy in “Guillaume Tell,” Mimì in “La Boheme,” and Sophie in “Werther,” among others in Bologna. She has also performed at the Opéra National de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Salzburg Festival, Teatro dell’opera di Roma, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Teatro Regio di Torino, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and the Arena di Verona.

After garnering acclaim for her interpretation of Verdi’s “La Traviata” at the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Sicilia will sing her second Verdi role, continuing to move toward the lyric soprano repertoire and showcasing the her “controlled and flexibly colored voice.”

For those not in Bologna, the soprano is set to appear with the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma this summer in a  production of “Carmen” and will also take the stage of the Teatro alla Scala in a new production of “Fedora” in the fall. 

Recordings 

For those not familiar with the soprano, Sicilia has a recording as Vivetta in Cilea’s “L’Arlesiana.”

Here she is as Mimi at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

Here she is in “La Traviata” from the Astana Opera.