Josè Maria Lo Monaco

Josè Maria Lo Monaco was born in Catania where she graduated in piano and began studying singing with mezzo-soprano Bianca Maria Casoni. At a very young age, she won several international contests (Viotti, Caruso, Zandonai, Corradetti) quickly becoming a point of reference of the new generation of Italian mezzo. She debuted at the Teatro alla Scala in Dido and Aeneas of Purcell under the baton of Christopher Hogwood and in Petite Messe Solennelle of Rossini.

In 2011 she sang sing Cornelia in Haendel’s Giulio Cesare whit Ottavio Dantone; Alcina in Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso with J.C. Spinosi in Bilbao and in Valladolid; Tamiri in Vivaldi’s Farnace in Théâtre de Champs Elysées; Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Vaticano under the baton of J. L. Cobos for S.S. Pope Benedict XVI and the president of Italian Republic;  Ottavia  in Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea with Alan Curtis and PierLuigi Pizzi in Firenze; Lucilla in Scala di Seta at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro whit Damiano Michieletto; Cherubino in Nozze di Figaro at La Fenice in Venice and Ragonde in Rossini’s La Donna del Lago at La Scala.

Recently, she sang Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte in a new project of  Da Ponte’s trilogy with Damiano Michieletto and Antonello Manacorda that we’ll sing again in 2013 at Venice.

In 2012 season, she will singEmilia in Rossini’s Otello at La Monnaie in Bruxelles with Evelino Pidò; Smeton in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena with Roberto Abbado and Graham Vick at Firenze  and in spring 2012, she will debut Romeo  in Bellini’s Capuleti e Montecchi at Buenos Aires and Carmen (title-role) in Opéra National de Lyon whit Stefano Montanari and Olivier Py.

Among her recent engagements we can mention the principal role of Timante in Jommelli’s Demofoonte under the baton of Ricardo Muti, staged by Cesare Levi at the Salzburg Festival, Ravenna Festival and Opéra de Paris and her debut in Rossini’s Cenerentola (title-role) with Evelino Pido and Daniele Abbado in Reggio Emilia and Bari.  She has sung Emilia on Rossini’s Otello with Anna Caterina Antonacci with Evelino Pidò in Opéra of Lyon and Paris Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; Agnese in Beatrice di Tenda by Bellini in Catania; Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte with Barbara Frittoli in Menorca; title role of Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck; Alessandro in Pergolesi’s La Salustia in Montpellier and Jesi staged by Jean-Paul Scarpitta; title-role of Cenerentola in Teatro Lirico in Cagliari with Evelino Pido; Neris in Cherubini’s Medea with Evelino Pidò; Pippo in Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra; Smeton in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena in several Italian theaters and for a tour in Japan…

She has sung with various ensembles focusing with particular interest on sacred and baroque music: Giuditta in Betullia Liberata at the Musikfest Bremen; Vivaldi’s Tito Manlio in London Barbican Center with Ottavio Dantone; Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos with the Netherlands Bach Society; Nerone in Handel’s Agrippina under the baton of Fabio Biondi in Krakow and in Santiago de Compostela festivals;. In Monteverdi’s repertoire Josè Maria lo Monaco sang Messaggiera and Speranza in Monteverdi’s Orfeo with Andrea Marcon at the Monteverdi Festival in Cremona and again with Jordi Savall in a European tour. With Claudio Cavina and la Venexiana she recorded for Glossa the trilogy with Orfeo (Gramophone Award 2008), Ottone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Penelope in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria.

She sang at the beginning of her career at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro Il Viaggio a Reims and Italiana in Algeri staged by Dario Fo, with the same role she has been chosen to sing Marchesa Melibea in Viaggio a Reims in an important co-production of sixteen French opera houses…. and in future she will sing Rossini’s Tancredi  in Théâtre de Champs Elysée;  Ragonde at Rossini’s Conte Ory at La Scala of Milano with Juan Diego Florez  and  Maddalena in Rigoletto at Aix en provence festival whit Robert Carsen and Gianandrea Noseda…

Edited:  feb 2012

Biografia in Italiano : Josè Maria Lo Monaco_CV ITA