Ambrogio Maestri Was Born in Pavia Where He Studied Singing and Piano
Ambrogio MAESTRI
Baritone
Ambrogio Maestri was born in Pavia where he studied singing and piano.
His sensational debut in 2001 coincided with the most important musical event of the Verdi Centennial, FALSTAFF, conducted by Riccardo Muti and directed by Giorgio Strehler, which saw him in the leading role at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the historic Teatro Verdi in Bussetto. This interpretation earned him enthusiastic reviews from the international press and opened the doors of the most important opera houses in the world.
The collaboration with Riccardo Muti lead him over the next three years to debut at the Teatro alla Scala in some of the most emblematic Verdi roles such as Iago in OTELLO, Renato in UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, Don Carlo di Vargas in LA FORZA DEL DESTINO and Giorgio Germont in LA TRAVIATA, thereby strengthening the foundations of a constantly ascending career.
Guest of the most prestigious opera companies world-wide (Metropolitan Opera, Opera de Paris, Covent Garden, Staatsoper di Vienna, Deutsche Oper di Berlino, Maestri continues his Verdian journey performing as the Conte di Luna in IL TROVATORE, Amonasro in AIDA, Rolando in LA BATTAGLIA DI LEGNANO, and in the leading roles of SIMON BOCCANEGRA, RIGOLETTO and NABUCCO.
Loved by the public and critics who continue to support him with the same enthusiasm as at the beginning of his career, Maestri is confirmed as one of the most acclaimed baritones on the international scene.
The ten-year collaboration with the Arena di Verona led him during the 2012 season to celebrate his one hundredth performance of another beloved opera: AIDA. In these years of intense activity Maestri has been directed by the best conductors of the international scene including Zubin Mehta, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Oren, Fabio Luisi, Antonio Pappano, Jeffrey Tate, Nello Santi, Marcello Viotti, Marco Armiliato, Gianandrea Noseda, Renato Palumbo,Daniel Harding…and by directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Robert Carsen, Graham Vick, Peter Stein, Bob Wilson, Larent Pelly, Mario Martone, Hugo De Ana and Bartlett Sher. In 2006 Maestri made his debut with Dulcamara. Planning a new production of L'ELISIR D'AMORE, Opéra National in Paris wants to entrust the role of the sympathetic charlatan with a baritone voice. as was once.
In the last four years Maestri has confronted Puccini and Verismo. He debuted in TOSCA at Torre del Lago, CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA at the Metropolitan in New York and PAGLIACCI at La Scala in Milan. The choice of playing such strong and passionate characters came, not surprisingly, after a decade of experience. In 2012 the director Ferzan Ozpetek, who had directed Ambrogio in AIDA at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, offered him a role in his film Magnifica presenza.
Verdi’s bicentennial in 2013 represents the consecration of Maestri as a reference FALSTAFF. He was Sir John at La Scala, at the Opèra National de Paris, at Zurich’s Opernhaus, at Salzburg’s Festival, in Munich, in Tokyo, and at the Met in New York where he celebrated his 200th performance of the role.
Recently Ambrogio sang on several productions such as PAGLIACCI and FALSTAFF in Vienna and in New York, TOSCA in Barcelona, OTELLO at Turin’s Teatro Regio, AIDA at Rome’s Opera. Among the engagements of the last season we remember FALSTAFF in Milan, Munich, Amsterdam with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, in San Paolo in Brazil, in Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colon and in Chicago, CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA in Salzburg.
Among the commitments of future seasons we remember TOSCA in Vienna and Berlin, ADRIANA LECOUVREUR in New York, DON PASQUALE in Milan, FALSTAFF in Vienna, IL TRITTICO and GIANNI SCHICCHI in Münich.
CARLOS ALMAGUER
Baritone
Born in Mexico city, he has developed a passion for music since he was young dedicating himself to the study of different musical instruments. He began his vocal studies with M°Francisco Amador standing out immediately as part of the Carlo Morelli contest where first he obtained the third place and then, in the 1994 edition, the first prize. He won a scholarship at the competition named after Francisco Viñas with which he was able to fine-tune himself at the renowned Accademia Chigiana (Siena). There he worked with Carlo Bergonzi on the technical refinement and on the preparation of Verdi and dramatic baritone repertoire. He moved to Madrid to attend the courses organised by the famous baritone Vicente Sardinero, who will becomehis main guide in the preparation of the great baritone roles. He did not disdain to refine some of the mostsignificant scores of the Italian repertoire and especially his iconic role of Scarpia in Tosca, studied with Giuseppe Taddei.
He sings the roles of Alfio (Cavalleria Rusticana), Enrico (Lucia di Lamermoor), Amonasro (Aida), Don Carlo di Vargas (Forza del destino), Rigoletto, the Count di Luna (Trovatore), Miller (Luisa Miller), Renato (Unballo in maschera), Ezio (Attila), Nabucco, Jago (Otello), Simon Boccanegra, Macbeth, Rolando (Battaglia di Legnano), Monforte (Vespri Siciliani), Tonio (Pagliacci), Gerard (Andrea Chenier), Jack Rance (Fanciulla del West), Michele (Tabarro), Scarpia (Tosca), Germont (Traviata).
Among the major theaters he works with there are: Arena di Verona, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Teatro Massimo of Palermo, Teatro Regio in Turin, Carlo Felice in Genoa, San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Pavarotti in Modena; in Germany the theaters of Frankfurt, Leipzig, Deutsche Opera Berlin, the Hamburg Opera; in France Strasbourg Opera, Toulon, Nice, Marseille, Nantes, Montpellier; In Austria the Wien Oper, in Switzerland in Lausanne, Avences and Berna. Others: Carnegie Hall, the Royal Opera House-Covent Garden, Liceu in Barcelona, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Athens Opera, Opera of Mexico, Opera of Las Palmas in the Canaries, Opera de Wallonie, Bejing Opera, Opera in Tel-Aviv; FestivalPuccini in Torre del Lago and the Taormina Festival, Trapani, Savonlinna and Sanxay.
2016 engagements include: Scarpia and Renato in Sofia in Bulgaria, Scarpia, Alfio and Tonio in Toulon, Nabucco in Warsaw. In 2017 he will sing, among others, Germon in Warsaw and Scarpia in Nice.