Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia Bartoli celebrates her 40th stage anniversary this year: in 1985, at the age of 19, she made her operatic debut in Rome as Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. It is with that very role that she now returns to Lucerne Festival. Bartoli received her training from her mother, Silvana Bazzoni. In 1988, she collaborated with Nikolaus Harnoncourt on a production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and among her earliest partners at the podium were Herbert von Karajan, Sir Georg Solti, and Daniel Barenboim. Since then, Cecilia Bartoli has performed at the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls, as well as at major international festivals. She has appeared not only with leading symphony orchestras but also with renowned early music ensembles, including Les Arts Florissants, Concentus Musicus Wien, Il Giardino Armonico, Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, La Scintilla, and Il Pomo d’Oro. In 2016, she founded the orchestra Les Musiciens du Prince — Monaco, based in Monte Carlo. Her repertoire focuses on Baroque music, Mozart roles, and the bel canto tradition, and she has consistently championed the rediscovery of forgotten works. Since 2012, Bartoli has served as Artistic Director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, where in recent years she has appeared in works by Handel, Gluck, Rossini, and Bellini, as well as in the role of Maria in Bernstein’s West Side Story. Since 2023, she has also served as Director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo — the first woman in the company’s history to hold this position; in the past season, she appeared there as Sesto in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. Bartoli’s CDs and DVDs have sold more than 12 million copies worldwide; she has won the Grammy Award five times. Among her many other honors are the Léonie Sonning Music Prize (2010), the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize (2012), and the Polar Music Prize (2016). In 2023, she was named an Austrian Kammersängerin.

Lucerne Festival (IMF) debut on 7 September 1995 in a lieder recital, with György Fischer at the keyboard.

Mai 2025