Claudia Marchi (inglese)

Mezzo-soprano Claudia Marchi joined Parma’s Arrigo Boito Conservatory in 2022. She is the Erasmus International Manager at Giacomo Puccini Conservatory where she was previously a voice professor and stage director.
Graduated with honors Ms. Marchi was a student of soprano Elvina Ramella, and specialized at Rossini Academy in Pesaro (ROF), under the tutelage of world-renowned Rossini expert Maestro Alberto Zedda. Following her studies, Ms. Marchi won international competitions that started her professional career with the titular role in Rossini’s Sigismondo, conducted by Richard Bonynge.
Recent seasons have seen Ms. Marchi at La Marquise de Berkenfield in Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna and Teatro Verdi in Salerno. She was hailed as having “a large and beautiful voice from top to bottom, both authoritative and imposing in stage presence.” A favorite in Rossini characters, she has sung Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Opera Royale de Wallonie in Liege, Belgium; Lucilla in La Scala di Seta at the Pesaro Festival, with Alberto Zedda as conductor and Luca de Filippo as director; Isabella in J.P. Ponnelle’s L’Italiana in Algieri at the Teatro Carlo Felica in Genoa; and a Rossini duet recital at Teatro alla Scala with Cecilia Gasdia.
Alongside Luciano Pavarotti, she began her foray into being a Verdi specialist in an Australian tour of Verdi’s Requiem. Performances followed in Aida as Amneris in France, Korea, and Italy; both Meg Page and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, Azucena in Il Trovatore, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Fenena in Nabucco, and Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino. As Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera, it was stated that her characterization was “disturbing with deep, resonant low notes and a rage that flew effortlessly up to the top.”
In her signature role as Carmen, she has been described as “an intense, outrageous character, seductive in temperament and charisma, but with a voice of velvet.” Additional roles of note include Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana and Princess of Bouillon in Cavalleria Rusticana.
Equally as comfortable in oratorio and sacred literature as opera, Ms. Marchi has been the mezzosoprano soloist with Festival de la Porta Ferrada in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Bach’s St. John’s Passion, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and many others.
Ms. Marchi’s discography includes the titular role in a live recording at Barcelona’s Gran Teatro Liceo in La Fattucchiera by V.Cujas on the Columna Musica label. For Naxos Records, she has recorded Gianni Schicchi; and for Bongiovanni Records she has recorded Il Socrate Immaginario and Il Divertimento dei Numi by Paisiello, and Donizetti’s La Romanziera. She may be heard on live recordings released by Teatro La Fenice in Nikkona’s Siberia di Giordano and Verdi’s La Traviata.
In 2017, Ms. Marchi released her first book on vocal pedagogy, translated into three languages: Italian, English, and Chinese, entitled “The Singer and His Instrument.” In 2018 she created a one woman show based on the diaries of Giuseppina Strepponi entitled “Magic women and Excellent Witches.”