For more than two decades, Cecilia Bartoli has
undeniably been one of the top-stars in the field of
classical music. All over the world, her new operatic
roles, her concert programs and recording projects – in
exclusivity with Decca - are expected with great
eagerness and curiosity. The exceptional amount of 6
million CDs sold, more than 100 weeks ranking in the
international pop charts, numerous Golden Discs, 4
Grammys (USA), 7 Echos and a Bambi (Germany), two
Classical Brit Awards (UK), the Victoire de la Musique
(France), the Concertgebouw Prize (Netherlands) and the
Record Academy Award (Japan) ultimately reflect the
immense success of her solo albums "Vivaldi", "Gluck", "Salieri"
and "Opera proibita" and have firmly established her
position as "best selling classical artist" over a
number of years.
But Cecilia Bartoli is not so much interested in the
commercial dimension of this success than in the fact
that she brings classical music close to the hearts of
millions of people throughout the world. Apart from that,
she is proud that through their popularity, her projects
have caused a wide-spread re-evaluation and rediscovery
of the neglected composers and forgotten repertoire
which she puts up for discussion.
It is not surprising that Herbert von Karajan, Daniel
Barenboim and Nikolaus Harnoncourt were among the first
conductors Cecilia Bartoli worked with. They noticed her
talent at a very early stage when she had barely
completed her vocal studies with her parents in her
home-town Rome. Since then, many further conductors,
pianists and orchestras of highest renown have been her
regular partners. In recent years, her work has begun to
focus on collaborations with the most significant period
instrument orchestras (Akademie für Alte Musik, Les Arts
Florissants, Concentus Musicus Wien, Freiburger
Barockorchester, Il Giardino Armonico, Kammerorchester
Basel, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment, Orchestra La Scintilla). Projects with
orchestras where Cecilia Bartoli assumes the overall
artistic responsibility have become increasingly
important to her and were crowned by the jointly
developed and performed programmes with the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra.
Cecilia Bartoli regularly sings in the most important
concert halls in Europe, the United States and Japan.
Her stage appearances include prestigious opera houses
and festivals such as the Metropolitan Opera in New
York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, La
Scala in Milan, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the
Salzburg Festival and the Zürich Opera House, where she
has presented many of her operatic roles for the first
time. Most recently, her roles have included Rossini's
Fiorilla in "Il Turco in Italia" at Covent Garden and
two Handelian heroines, Cleopatra (in "Giulio Cesare"
with Marc Minkowski) and Semele (with William Christie)
in Zurich.
In 2007/08 Cecilia Bartoli devotes her time to the early
19th century - the era of Italian Romanticism and
Belcanto - and especially the legendary singer Maria
Malibran whose 200th birthday will be celebrated in
2008.
Cecilia Bartoli has been endowed with the Italian
Knighthood and is an "Accademico effettivo" of Santa
Cecilia, Rome, a French "Chevalier des Arts et des
Lettres" and an "Honorary Member" of the Royal Academy
of Music, London.
August 2007/mw