Cecilia Bartoli & Franco Fagioli

In 2005, Cecilia Bartoli arrived in Zurich to rehearse her first Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto. For the title role, the theatre had engaged a completely unknown and surprisingly young countertenor from Argentina, the 24-year-old Franco Fagioli, who immediately charmed everyone with his charisma, beautiful timbre and musicality. A few years passed, and Cecilia invited him to join her on a Handel tour to some of Europe’s major concert halls, followed some time later by one of her grand concert tours, this time with Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.

Having quickly risen to international stardom as a Handel specialist, Franco soon began to branch out into other fields of repertoire, where he often explored parts written for famous castrati such as Caffarelli in the 18th century, or Giovanni Battista Velluti, for whom Rossini and Meyerbeer had written major roles, and to whom he payed homage at the 2014 Salzburg Whitsun Festival, which was called “Rossinissmo". 

With Handel, Porpora, Pergolesi, Mozart and Rossini there is plenty of common ground to share between Cecilia Bartoli and Franco Fagioli for a splendid gala evening, accompanied by Les Musiciens du Prince and Gianluca Capuano.