Antonino Siragusa

Antonino Siragusa, born 1964 in Messina (Sicily), is aptly named "Antonino" (little Antonio). He is a small, thin man with a small, thin voice that is not beautiful either. Nonetheless, of the three times I heard him at the Vienna Staatsoper, I was and am still absolutely enthusiastic about his Almaviva (best male coloratura I've ever heard on stage, excellent top notes, and a true comedian to that) and duly impressed with the second Elvino ("Sonnambula") I heard, in appropriate belcanto style, the voice somewhat sharp, but again with great top notes. The first Elvino, however, that I heard of Siragusa, was pretty much like this totally miscarried "Fille du régiment" selection... For the recordings, as well, goes that his Almaviva is incomparably better, and also funny – listen how he's demonstrating the difference between a pop singer and an opera singer at the start of the second verse.

He made his debut in 1996 in Lecce as Don Ottavio, and soon made an international career: La Scala, Vienna Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera New York, Tokyo, Monnaie in Brussels, both Staatsoper and Deutsch Oper Berlin, Teatro Real Madrid, Pesaro Rossini Festival (regularly, Munich, Paris Opéra and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Torino, Venice, Genova, Moscow, Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Zürich...