Carlo Lepore

Biography

Recent and future engagements of Carlo Lepore include The Barber of Seville (Bartolo and Basilio) in Naples, Paris, Buenos Aires and Montreal, Falstaff at the Teatro Petruzzelli of Bari, Le nozze di Figaro (Bartolo) in Rome, London ROH and Glyndebourne, L’Italiana in Algieri, Gianni Schicchi and Il Turco in Italia in Torino, L'elisir d'amore in Cologne and Venice, Armida and L’Inganno felice at the Rossini Opera Festival and La Cenerentola in Naples and Rome.

Recent credits also include Melitone in the La Forza del Destino and his debut in the title role in Falstaff at the Verdi Festival in Parma, Leporello in Don Giovanni in Lucca and Bergamo, Savonlinna Festival and most recently in Turin, directed by C. Hogwood, Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Houston Grand Opera and at the Royal Opera House in London under Pappano, Cosi fan tutte in Turin directed by E. Scola, Cologne and London conducted by Sir Colin Davis, Il Viaggio a Reims (Don Profondo) in Antwerp with A. Zedda, Il Signor Bruschino in Pesaro, Don Magnifico at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and in the film of A. Anderman Cenerentola, una favola in diretta conducted by G. Gelmetti directed by Carlo Verdone, broadcast by RAI 1 and worldwide, and L’Italiana in Algieri in Liege.

A guest at major European theaters and festivals, Carlo Lepore has a rich repertoire among which Rossini roles as Mustafa in L’Italia in Algieri (Teatro alla Scala, the Teatro Regio in Turin, Teatro Comunale in Florence, Semperoper Dresden, Cologne, Las Palmas ), Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola (Milan, Rome, Colon of Buenos Aires etc.), the main character in Il Turco in Italia (Rome, Genoa, Turin), Don Basilio (Ravenna, Nancy, Liege) and Bartolo (Dresden, Toulon) in Il Barbero di Sivigliae and Mozart's Leporello, Don Alfonso, along with Bartolo, Donizetti’s Dulcamara (Verona, Dijon) and Don Pasquale (Toulon) to name a few.

From his debut at the Teatro dell' Opera in Rome as Don Basilio, he went on to the Teatro San Carlo in Naples where he sang in Il Matrimonio Segreto (Count Robinson), Il Convitato di pietra (Pulcinella) by G.Tritto, Le Convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali by Donizetti directed by R. De Simone and made his La Scala debut as George in Nina, o sia la pazza per amore by Paisiello under the direction of Riccardo Muti, followed by Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola and Mustafa in L’Italiana both directed by J. P. Ponnelle and directed respectively by B. Campanella and C. Rovaris and finding further successes as Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’amore directed by R. Rizzi Brignoli, Ping in Turandot under the baton of G. Prêtre and Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro also directed by R. Muti.

A frequent guest at the Rossini Opera Festival , Carlo Lepore has performed roles in Capellio in Bianca e Falliero, Hieros in Le Siège de Corinthe, Mustafà in Adina, Ginardo in Matilde di Shabran directed by M. Martone, repreised at Covent Garden, Blansac in La Scala di Seta directed by C. Scimone and Gaudenzio in Il Signor Bruschino.

Other appearances include Count Rodolfo in La Sonnambula (Catania, Tokyo ), Alidoro in La Cenerentola (Palermo , Marseille), Nonancourt in Il capello di paglia di Firenze at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, directed by B. Bartoletti, Colline in La Bohème (Cosenza, Bari), Sarastro in Die Zauberfloete at the Teatro Bellini in Catania Z. Pesko directed by W. Herzog, the Pharaoh in Mose in Egitto (Monte Carlo, Zurich) the Gouverneur in Le Comte Ory in Genoa an the Bonze in Madama Butterfly at the Arena di Verona .

Among many memorable roles are Reverend Hylier in La Visita Meravigliosa by N. Rota, La Scala di Seta in Berlin conducted A. Zedda, La Grotta di Trofonio in Lausanne and Poissy with C. Rousset, Rocca in Un Giorno di Regno in Nancy, Seneca in L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Geneva, Caen, St. Pölten) and even more rarely performed roles like Socrate Immaginario by Paisiello (Teatro alla Scala), Celos aun del aire matan by J.Hidalgo and libretto by Calderon de la Barca, with which he opened the 2001 season of the Teatro Real in Madrid, Giampaolo Lasagna in Le Astuzzie Feminile by Cimarosa, L’Orfeo by A.Sartorio, Gli Amori di Apollo e Daphne by F.Cavalli, L’Euridice by J. Peri, La Locandiera at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, L’Aretusa by F. Vitali, Il Sansone by B.Ferrari, San Giovanni Battista (Erode) by A. Stradella, La Locandiera (Don Pomponio) by P. Auletta, Don Chischiotte by R. Solci, Il Divertimento dei Numi by G. Paisiello, La Dirindina by D. Scarlatti (Don Carissimo), L’Impresario delle Canarie (Nibbio) by G.B. Martini, in addition to more notable Ariodante (King of Scotland), Acis and Galatea (Polyphemus), Giulio Cesare (Achilles) and Orlando (Zoroaster) by Handel.

In 2018 he appeared at the Bolshoi Theatre singing the title role in Don Pasquale. In 2020 he sang Don Profondo (Il Viaggio a Reims).

He filmed the role of the Commendatore in the Don Giovani film directed by Carlos Saura.

Carlo Lepore also has a busy concert schedule. He sang the Petite Messe Solennelle at the Teataro Filarmonico in Verona conducted by R. Gandolfi, the Stabat Mater in Valencia, the works by Vivaldi Tito Manlio (Brussels, Barbican Center in London) with O. Dantone and La Senna Festeggiante (New York with R. Alessandrini, Barcelona J. Savall), Eumelio by A. Agazzari at the Settimana Musicale Senese, Le tre ore d’agonia e la Passio by G. Giordani in Macerata, and has performed at the Konzerthaus Berlin with Le Febi Armonici, at the Innsbruck Festival with A. De Marchi, the Ravenna Festival with lieder by Wagner and Bellini, the Baths of Caracalla with Chicester Psalms of L. Bernstein conducted by D. Oren, in Lugano, Stabat Mater by Haydn and The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross conducted by D. Fasolis for the Italian Swiss Radio. Also he performed Winterreise in Spoleto, Todi and the Teatro Ghione Rome, Un Canzoniere Italiano by Wolf-Ferrari at the Wexford Opera Festival.

His discography includes La Nina, o la pazza per l’amore by G. Paisiello with R. Muti (Ricordi), Matilde di Shabran (Decca) and Bianca e Falliero (Dynamic), La Grotta di Trofonio A.Salieri with C. Rousset (Ambroisie), Sansone, Radamisto (Virgin) and Ariodante with A.Curtis, the Intermezzi of Pergolesi Livietta and Tracollo with O. Dantone and la Serva padrona conducted by C. Rovaris, and the the recital "Non solo buffo" with pianist John Velvets (Bongiovanni).

Born in Naples, Carlo Lepore lives in Rome, where he studied voice with Alessandra Gonzaga and graduated in Law. He also studied with Carlo Bergonzi at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Paolo Montarsolo, Joe Giardina, Alberto Zedda and finalized on Mozart with the Vienna Chamber Otto Edelman. He has won several competitions, including the "U.K. Pergolesi "of Rome and the Competition" A. Belli "of the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale of Spoleto (1992), his debut as Dulcamara and Leporello.

In 2012 he received Tiberini gold with the following motivation: "for an authentic bass voice, deep and broad, for technical expertise in offering and interpreting character roles comic opera and drama and playful characters serious Italian opera ".