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.

BORIS STATSENKO

Baritone

Born in in the town of Korkino, Chelyabinsk province, in the Urals. He studied at Chelyabinsk Music School (G. Gavrilov’s class), and the Moscow Conservatoire (Professor Hugo Tits’s class) where he was also a post-graduate (Professor Pyotr Skusnichenko’s class).

Future engagements include Tomskii/Queen of Spades at Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, Scarpia/Tosca in Sassari, Wolfram/2 Act of Tannnhäuser at the 100 Anniversary Jury Ljubimov Gala Concert at Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Amonastro/Aida, Scarpia/Tosca and Nabucco at Arena di Verona, Rachmaninov's Bells with Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Orchestra, Scarpia/Tosca at Prague National Opera, Iago/Otello, Amonastro/Aida, Scarpia/Tosca, Le coq d’or/König Dodon at Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, Gianni Schicchi in Taiwan and Frà Melitone/La forza del Destino at Opera Tel Aviv.He was a prizewinner at the Maria Callas Competition (Greece, 1989), and the Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow, 1990). In 1987, he joined Boris Pokrovsky’s Moscow Chamber Music Theatre.From 1990-1995, he was soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre, where he sung upwards of ten roles including such as Silvio (Pagliacci), Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades), Georges Germont (La Traviata), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Valentin (Faust), Robert (Iolanta)

As Bolshoi Theatre guest soloist he performed Don Carlo (La Forza del Destino), Napoleon (Prokofiev’s War and Peace), Ruprecht (The Fiery Angel), Tomsky (The Queen of Spades), the title role (Nabucco), the title role (Macbeth).

His international engagements include appearances in Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Essen, Cologne, Helsinki, Oslo, Amsterdam, Brussels, Liege, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Marseilles, Paris, Turin, Montpellier, Toulon, Copenhagen, Palermo, Trieste, Tokyo and others.From 1993-1999, he appeared as guest artist with the Kemnits Opera Company. Since 1999 he has been a soloist with Dusseldorf Opera, where he sang: Rigoletto, Scarpia (Tosca), Chorebe(Berlioz’s La prise de Troie), Lindorf, Coppelius, Miracle, Dapertutto (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Macbeth, Escamillo (Carmen), Amonasro (Aida), Tonio (I Pagliacci), Amfortas (Parsifal), Gellner (La Wally), Iago(Otello), Renato (Un Ballo in Maschera), Georges Germont (La Traviata), Michele (Il Tabarro), Nabucco,Carlo Gerard (Andrea Chenier).

He participated in the Ludwigsburg Festival pro¬ductions under the direction of Wolfgang Gennenwein, where he has sung the lead baritone roles in Stiffelio, II trovatore, Nabucco, Ernani and Un ballo in maschera.

He has given concert appearances (over 100) in Japan.

He makes regular concert appearances at Lucca Festival and has sung in La Traviata, La forza del destino, Tosca, Rigoletto, La Boheme, Tannhauser, lolanta and The Queen of Spades in Venice, Turin, Padua, Lucca and Rimini.

Together with La Scala soloists, Anna-Caterina Antonacci, Luigi Roni, Claudio Dezderi and Alberto Rinaldi, he appeared in Il barbiere di Siviglia in Germany, France, Italy Belgium and Holland.

In 2003, he sang Nabucco in Athens, Iago in Graz, Count di Luna in Copenhagen, Georges Germont in Oslo, Scarpia and Figaro in Trieste.

In 2004-06, — Scarpia in Bordeaux, Germont in Oslo and Marcello (La Boheme) in Luxembourg and Tel-Aviv, Rigoletto and Carlo Gerard in Graz.

In 2007, — Tomsky in Toulouse.

In 2008, — Rigoletto in Maxico, Scarpia in Budapest.

In 2009, — Nabucco in Graz, Scarpia in Wiesbaden, Tomsky in Tokyo, Rigoletto in New Jersey and Bonn, Ford and Onegin in Prague.

In 2010, — Scarpia in Limoges.