Franco Fagioli

Franco Fagioli was born in 1981 in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina. He began studying the piano at the music college in his home town, then studied singing at the Institute of Art at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. In 1997 he founded the choir of San Martín de Porres with the aim of providing opportunities for young people in his region to experience music. Encouraged by his singing teacher Annelise Skovmand, as well as Celina Lis and maestro Ricardo Yost, he decided to pursue a career as a countertenor. In 2003 he won the prestigious Bertelsmann International Singing Competition “Neue Stimmen.“ This marked the beginning of his international career, leading to performances at the Handel Festivals in Karlsruhe and Halle, the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, Bonn Opera, Aalto Theater in Essen, Cologne Opera, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Zürich Opera, Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, Oslo Opera, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Festival della Valle d’Istria in Martina Franca, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and the Teatro Argentino in La Plata. His portrayal of the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Zürich, Oslo, and Karlsruhe was a sensation. His US debut at the Chicago Opera Theater in the title role of Cavalli’s Giasone in 2010 was enthusiastically received. Franco Fagioli has performed with conductors including Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alan Curtis, Gabriel Garrido, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Michael Hofstetter, René Jacobs, Konrad Junghänel, José Manuel Quintana, Marc Minkowski, Riccardo Muti, and Christophe Rousset. His discography includes the title roles in Gluck’s Ezio, Handel’s Teseo (Carus 83.437), and Handel’s Berenice.