Cecilia Bartoli

Already generating buzz in her native Europe, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1996, as the devious maid Despina in Mozart's Così Fan Tutte. Wielding her warm coloratura and a zesty onstage persona, Bartoli caused a sensation singing arias such as the teasing "In Uomini, In Soldati." (Her performance was so stirring, an unfounded rumor arose that she had been secretly miked.) By the following season, when she sang the lead in Rossini's Cinderella story, La Cenerentola, Bartoli's meteoric popularity and early rise to fame permanently associated the singer with the enchanted role.

Bartoli's expressive mezzo-soprano and lively persona has made her an ideal interpreter of Mozart and Rossini. Listen to her warm, unique timbre and elastic, ecstatic performance of "Alleluia" from Mozart's motet, Exsultate, Jubilate (originally written for castrato!) — or "Una Voce Poco Fa" – "Io Sono Docile," the famous cavatina from Rossini's Il Barbiere Di Siviglia — and it's easy to see how perfectly suited Bartoli's coloratura is to their work.

Whether you're a diehard Cecilia Bartoli fan or newly enamored of the mezzo-soprano's lyric coloratura, our Deep Cuts help you plumb the depths of her talent and her repertoire. Alongside performances from the operas for which Bartoli's known best — the romantic duet "Il Cor Vi Dono" from Mozart's Così Fan Tutte, the woeful cavatina "Cruda sorte! Amor tiranno!" from Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) — are lesser-known, though no less beautiful, works such as the evocative "Chanson Hébraïque," from Maurice Ravel's song cycle Chants Populaires. Brava!

One of the world's most popular opera singers, Cecilia Bartoli shot to fame in the 1990s on the strength of a spectacularly accomplished coloratura mezzo soprano, a vivacious personality, physical beauty, and keen choices in repertoire. Born in Rome in 1966 to musical parents, she achieved her fame early, making a name for herself while she was still in her twenties — a rarity in a world where few artists are considered vocally mature before their thirties. Her unique timbre and supple lyrical qualities have made her an ideal proponent of Mozart and Rossini, the two composers most significantly associated with Bartoli (outstandingly, she has sung all three of the female roles in Mozart's Così Fan Tutte), while her facility for vocal embellishments and ornamental runs has also led her to the works of Baroque and early Classical composers such as Gluck, Vivaldi, and Haydn.