This week, the Donizetti Opera Festival opens its 2022 season featuring three operas including “Chiara e Serafina,” a rarely performed work and one that flopped at its premiere in 1822. However, for its 200th anniversary the Donizetti is bringing the work back with a young cast and veteran buffo bass-baritone Pietro Spagnoli.

For the past years, Spagnoli has been in demand for his virtuoso roles in Rossini, Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, and Puccini roles. He has sung at every major theater in the world including the Teatro alla Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Opernhaus Zurich and Wiener Staatsoper, among others, and has been praised for his technique and acting.

OperaWire has praised him for his “strong characterization…natural comic timing, movement, facial expressions, and his lively, strongly-crafted recitatives.” A veteran of the comic works, Spagnoli will ignite the role of Don Meschino in this historical performance.

And for those not in Bergamo, Spagnoli is set to perform at the Opernhaus Zürich in a production of “Viva La Mamma.”

Recordings

Spagnoli has a number of recordings of unknown works as well as masterpieces in the repertoire. Among recordings the bass-baritone is in include Donizetti’s “Francesca di Foix” for Opera Rara, Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” Rossini’s “La Gazzetta,” Rossini’s “L’Inganno Felice,” Rossini’s “La Pietra del Paragone,” and Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” with Roberto Alagna.  

Here are two clips from Rossini’s “Il barbiere di Sivilgia” and Bellini’s “I Puritani.”