(Photo: Federico Melis)

Federico Fiorio is a male soprano, specializing in the baroque. I first came across him on his professional debut in 2018 when he was performing at Venice’s Teatro Malibran, in which he impressed with his “high degree of vocal control and versatility.” Since then, and almost by chance, I have had the opportunity of reviewing many of his performances in operas ranging across the baroque period, by composers that include Monteverdi, Händel and Vivaldi, among others. Over this short period, Fiorio has developed into one of Europe’s leading baroque singers, starring in its major opera houses and festivals. Recently, he performed in an innovative reinterpretation of Monteverdi’s music in an opera entitled “I Grotteschi” at Brussels’ La Monnaie theatre, in which he caught the attention with the “homogeneity of his voice along with the detail with which he was able to furnish the line.”

Yet, he is much more than just a singer. Fiorio sees himself, first and foremost, as a musician: he also plays the harpsichord, possesses a desire to unearth and perform forgotten works, and has established his own ensemble dedicated to exploring the music of the baroque, which he conducts. This October, they will be premiering an early 17th century one-act comic opera that Fiorio has been instrumental in reconstructing.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to meet up with him to talk about the success he is achieving in a career that he is pushing forward on many fronts.

OperaWire: Can you give us an outline of your early musical experience?

Federico Fiorio: I started singing when I was very young in a children’s choir in a town close to Verona. I also studied the piano and violin for many years but opted for a career in singing and enrolled at the Conservatorio F. A. Bonporti di Trento e Riva del Garda and then at the Conservatorio Arrigo Boito di Parma and studied with Lia Serafini. My first professional role was at Venice’s Teatro Malibran in Albinoni’s “Zenobia, regina de Palmireni,” in which I played the role of Lidio. My next role was in Lotti’s “Polidoro” at Vicenza’s Teatro Olimpico, in which I played the title role. My career then quickly took off, and I now sing regularly across Europe.

I am now based in Cagliari in Sardinia where I play the harpsichord, sing and conduct my ensemble.

OW: How would you describe your voice?

FF: I am not a countertenor. I am a male soprano. The voice of a countertenor is very different from that of a male soprano. We both have a chest and a head voice, but for the countertenor, the voice is mainly a chest voice, and he develops the head voice, which he uses to sing. My singing voice, however, is my head voice, so I have a far more natural sound. When I speak, you can hear that my voice is higher than the usual male voice. You can identify a genuine male soprano by the vibration of the voice, which is different from a countertenor.

Within the category of the male soprano, there are different types of voices, just like other voice types; for example, some male sopranos have lyric voices while others are lighter.

OW: You recently appeared in La Monnaie’s new opera, “I Grotteschi,” an innovative work based on the operas of Monteverdi, which lasts around seven hours and is performed over two evenings. What does this work actually consist of, and how was it created?

FF: It is a new opera with a completely new story using the music from Monteverdi’s operas. The director, Rafael R Villalobos, brought together the texts from the composer’s operas to create a new story. Each character in “I Grotteschi” is a construction, made up of different characters from “L’Orfeo,” “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria,” and “L’Incoronazione di Poppea.” They are not to be seen as pieces of the other characters, but as a new character each with a more complex, deeper emotional personality.

I played the part of Capriccio, who is a combination of Amore from “L’Orfeo” and Valletto from “L’Incoronazione di Poppea.” He is an adolescent with a lot of traumas. He is also his mother’s favorite, which makes his brother, Privilegio, jealous, who eventually kills him. The same arias are sung to the same music but in a totally different way; the tempi are very different from Monteverdi’s, and the musical director, Leonardo Garcia-Alarcón, altered the instrumentation to change the character of many arias. You are listening to the composer’s music in a new context, sung in a different way.

OW: Was the aim to create a new baroque opera?

FF: No, I don’t believe that was the intention. The story and the characters are not baroque. It is like watching a soap opera. It is a modern story with modern-day characters.

OW: What were the challenges you experienced in creating the role of Capriccio?

FF: At the beginning, it was very difficult for me because I had assumed before I arrived for rehearsals that the characters were supposed to reflect Monteverdi’s characters. Therefore, I was constantly being told that I was not a divinity, that I was an adolescent and that I had to forget completely about the characters of Amore and Valletto. So, in the prologue, I am not Amore even if I am singing the god’s words. It was important that the audience should realize this; I was not a god! Also, I had to stop relating to the other characters as if they were from Monteverdi’s operas. I had to treat them as new characters. It was actually quite difficult to do.

Of course, I also had to alter the way I sang. The arias were taken from works with very different stories and, therefore, have to be presented differently.

Learning to play my character was also quite a challenge. He is an adolescent, and I find it very difficult to play someone of that age. I don’t even have the correct physique. Also, Capriccio’s family is very dysfunctional; he doesn’t have a good relationship with his mother, father, or brother but only with an old man, which has sexual undertones. This makes things doubly difficult; not only did I have to play an adolescent but one that is dysfunctional.

OW: How satisfied were you with your performance?

FF: I was very happy. Obviously, it was a big challenge, as it was for everyone, as it is very different from a traditional 17th century baroque opera.

It was also a very different experience from a normal performance. We had three months of rehearsals before the first night, which gave us the possibility to get to know each other and develop the opera as a team. It was a great experience, one that you would never normally get when preparing an opera. It was very important that we built up a connection with each other in order to bring this work to the stage in the way Rafael wanted.

OW: Recently, you put together an ensemble called Karalis Antiqua. What do you hope to achieve with this group?

FF: I founded the Karalis Antiqua one year ago with Luca Murgia, who is now our general manager. It is a small ensemble consisting of variable formations. On occasions it includes voices and instruments, while for other concerts, it can be just voices or just the orchestra. Usually, it consists of about 12 musicians. I am the musical director and also play the harpsichord.

We have two aims. The first is to make music. We try to do one concert a month, which we perform at the Teatro dell’Arco. Last month we did a performance of Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” in the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta.

The second aim is to research baroque music’s association with Sardinia. You might think that there is very little in the way of baroque music to research here, but it is not true! Recently in Madrid, we found a copy of a baroque zarzuela written in Sardinia, which actually is not so surprising, as the island was under Spanish rule at the time. In the National Library of Sardinia there is a large archive of manuscripts that has not been fully explored, so we are researching it in partnership with the university and the La Cittadella dei Musei e Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari. Francesco Moscolino, its director, is providing a lot of help. He has provided us with a rehearsal space in a beautiful old theatre called Teatro dell’Arca, where we also hold our concerts.

This October, we are very excited to be performing a one-act comic chamber opera called “Lo Spedale,” with a libretto by Antonio Bardi. It is for six singers and a basso continuo. The manuscript was found in Venice. We are not sure, but we suspect that it may be by Barbara Strozzi, as it contains an aria that is very similar to one that she wrote. However, this needs to be verified.

We will hold the premiere at the Teatro dell’Arca. We will also be performing it in 2027 at the Valletta Baroque Festival in Malta.

OW: With so much going on, how do you see your career developing?

FF: It is important for me that I am not just seen as a singer. I am also a harpsichordist and a musical director. I see myself as a musical artist.

Looking forward, I would like to sing more Mozart. I like the way he writes for the voice, and it also helps me in developing my singing.

I enjoy contemporary music, and I would like to do more, but it’s not one of my major aims. It’s different from baroque, yet it also has similarities; they both require you to use the voice to create effects, and baroque singers use words in different ways from other singers. For example, it’s easier to hear the text, and this is similar to some contemporary music.

Of course, I have dreams. I would love to sing at La Scala and La Fenice and would really love to sing the role of Cherubino.

I will be singing Sesto in Händel’s “Giulio Cesare” at the Salzburg festival this summer, so I am actually already living a dream.