Q&A

When did you start singing?
I don’t remember exactly when…

Why did you start singing?
Because it felt good.

Which singers inspired you most when you were young?
ABBA

Which singer do you most admire?
The great mezzosopranos.

What’s your favourite role?
There is not a favourite, I love them when I am doing them.

What role have you never played but would like to?
The Rossini roles I still have not played, like Arsace in Semiramide, Malcolm in La Donna del Lago and many others by Rossini.

What’s your favourite opera to watch?
Difficult to say… it’s between Tosca, La Traviata and one that a friend is singing in.

Who is your favourite composer?
That’s between Handel, Mozart and Rossini.

Who is your favourite writer?
Metastasio.

Who is your favourite theatre or film director?
Peter Jackson.

Who is your favourite actor?
Johnny Depp.

Who is your favourite dancer?
Fred Astaire.

What is your favourite book?
The Bible…

What is your favourite film?
The ones that go right with food…

Which is your favourite city?
San Miguel de Tucumán.

What do you like most about yourself?
That I think too much.

What do you dislike about yourself?
Also that I think too much.

What was your proudest moment?
When I manage to wake up early.

When and where were you happiest?
Sharing with my friends and family

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My friends and family.

What is your greatest fear?
To have no fear…

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
The fact that sometimes I think too much!

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My friends.

What is your most treasured possession?
My scores…

What is your greatest extravagance?
More scores….

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
The artificial path to eternal youth.

On what occasion do you lie?
When is not a good moment to tell the truth.

If you hadn’t been a singer what would you have liked to be?
An architect.

What is your most marked characteristic?
I’m sociable, and like to share good times with friends.

What quality do you most value in a friend?
Nobility.

What quality do you most value in a colleague?
That they’re in a good mood…

Which historical figure do you most admire?
St Paul the Apostle (Saul of Tarsus).

Which living person do you most admire?
My mother, and mothers in general…

What do you most dislike?
Meanness.

What talent would you most like to have?
To speak many languages.

What’s your idea of perfect happiness?
Peace.

How would you like to die?
In peace.

What is your motto?
“Let’s go!”, as my father use to say…

 

Franco Fagioli – a biography

Franco Fagioli was born in Tucumán and studied singing there and at the Instituto Superior de Arte, Buenos Aires. He began his international career after winning the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Neue Stimmen Award (2003). Engagements since have included Giulio Cesare for Zürich Opera, Norwegian National Opera, Finnish National Opera and at the Handel Festival Karlsruhe, Riccardo Primo and Ariodante in Karlsruhe, Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice) for Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, Arbace (Vinci’s L’Artaserse) in Cologne, Versailles and on European tour, Sesto (La clemenza di Tito) for Opéra national de Lorraine, Andronico (Tamerlano) for the Salzburg Festival under Marc Minkowski, Poro for the Halle Handel Festival and Giasone for Chicago Opera Theater in his US début.

Fagioli has performed in concert throughout Europe, in works by Rossini (including Petite Messe Solennelle and an all-Rossini recital at the Salzburg Festival), Porpora, J.C. Bach, Jommelli, Handel and Pergolesi (including his Stabat Mater), among others. Fagioli’s recordings include works by Porpora and arias written for the castrato Caffarelli (both Naïve), Steffani’s Stabat Mater (Decca), Berenice with Il Complesso Barocco (Virgin) and arias by Handel and Mozart (Arte Nuove).

At the beginning of November 2014 he makes his début with The Royal Opera as Idamante in Idomeneo. His new CD, Il Maestro – Porpora arias, has just been released.

Follow Franco Fagioli on his site and on Facebook.