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INIZIO
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Palermo native Vincenzo La Scola, who studied with Arrigo Pola, Carlo Bergonzi and Rodolfo Celletti, won the Alessandro Ziliani Award at the "Voci Verdiane" competition in Busseto in 1982. The following year he made his official stage debut as Ernesto in "Don Pasquale" at the Teatro Regio in Parma. This was followed by recurring invitations to Italy's leading opera houses, including Bologna, Venice, Genova, Naples and Torino. He launched his international career in 1985 as Nemorino in Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore" at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, after which he began accepting engagements in Europe's leading musical centers: London, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Zürich, Vienna and Lisbon. After La Scola's sensational 1988 debut at Milan's La Scala, Riccardo Muti hired him for a major tour to Japan and the former Soviet Union with the Milanese ensemble. La Scola and La Scala have since been frequently reunited, with the tenor singing many important parts there. Thanks to his vocal culture, beautiful voice and stylistic versatility, La Scola ranks among the world's most sought-after tenors of today. His repertoire comprises not only the great Verdi and Puccini roles, but also rewarding parts in rarely played works such as Bellini's "Beatrice di Tenda," Donizetti's "Roberto Devereux" and Mascagni's "Le Maschere." In addition to appearing at the above-mentioned theaters, he guests regularly at New York's Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Zurich Opera House or the Arena di Verona and is always a welcome partner of conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Zubin Mehta, Georges Prêtre, Bruno Bartoletti and Daniele Gatti. When he is not on the world's opera stages, La Scola is singing on the concert podium or recital stage, where he has a number of recital programs at his command. He has also sung in Verdi's "Messa da Requiem" in Berlin, Tokyo, Zurich, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, at the Salzburg Festival and elsewhere. Among his most notable successes to date are his “Simon Boccanegra” in Zurich, Turin, Rome and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; his La Scala appearance in Boito's "Mefistofele"; the title role in "Ernani" at the Vienna State Opera; and "Tosca" at the Met as well as in Tokyo and Zurich. On the occasion of Jerusalem's 3000th anniversary in 1996, he sang in a gala concert there with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. In October 1998 he celebrated the tenth anniversary of his debut at La Scala, again as Nemorino, which was followed by the season premiere in Zurich with Verdi's "I due Foscari." He portrayed Rodolfo in "Luisa Miller" under Lorin Maazel at Munich's Prinzregententheater, and appeared in "La Bohème" under Giuseppe Sinopoli in Tel Aviv and in Nikolaus Harnoncourt's "Aida" in Zurich. For his interpretation of Gabriele Adorno in "Simon Boccanegra" under Claudio Abbado at the Festival Ferrara Musica and the Verdi Festival in Parma, La Scola was hailed by the Italian journal "L'Opera" as the best tenor of the year 2000. The 100th anniversary of the death of Giuseppe Verdi was celebrated in January 2001 with an official commemorative concert conducted by Valéry Gerghiev at the cathedral of Parma, where La Scola sang the tenor part in the "Messa da Requiem." It was followed by further performances with Giuseppe Sinopoli in Dresden, Zubin Mehta in Florence, and Daniele Gatti at London's Royal Albert Hall as part of the venerable Proms concerts. In 2003 La Scola made his role debut as Turriddù in "Cavalleria Rusticana" at the Chicago Lyric Opera and took part in the much acclaimed world premiere of the opera "Il fantasma della cabina" by Marco Betta and Rocco Mortelliti, based on the novel by Andrea Camilleri, at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo. At the personal invitation of the Italian State President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, he took part in the traditional New Year's concert in Rome in 2002 and 2003. La Scola's discography comprises many operas and classical Italian songs on CDs and DVDs, as well as recordings of popular music, including one with the famous pop singer Cliff Richard and another with an original program featuring songs and texts as an homage to Mario Lanza, a program he has performed at many venues. In January 2005 the artist will be making more than his role debut as Manrico in "Il trovatore" at the Teatro Verdi in Busseto: it will be his directing debut as well. Among his forthcoming projects are his debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid as Don Carlos as well as another concert tour to Japan and new productions of "Carmen" in Chicago, "La forza del destino" in Zurich and "Il tabarro" at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
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