Biography
A winner of the As.Li.Co. Competition in Milan and the Toscanini-Verdi competition in Parma, Francesca Pedaci made her debut in the title role of La Cecchina, ossia la buona figliola by Niccolò Piccinni, followed by a great success at the Teatro alla Scala in Luigi Cherubini’s Lodoïska, conducted by Riccardo Muti. Francesca Pedaci has been heard in recent seasons as La Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro at both the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and at La Scala under the baton of Riccardo Muti, in her debut at the Wiener Staatsoper as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, as a much acclaimed Donna Anna both in Venice (for the opening of the Palafenice) and at the Scottish Opera, as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello at the Festival in Antibes and at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, as Liù in Turandot for the Scottish Opera, as Cuoca in The Legend of the Czar Saltan at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze and as Fulvia in Giulia e Sesto Pompeo by Carlo Soliva with the RTSI of Lugano. In 1998/9 season she gained a great success in occasion of her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York as Mimì in La Bohème and sang Mozart’s Requiem at the Thèâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Bruxelles with Antonio Pappano. After that she performed as Donna Elvira in the new production of Don Giovanni by Festival of Aix-En-Provence conducted by Claudio Abbado and Daniel Harding and staged by Peter Brook in an International tour through Europe and Japan, as Micaela in Carmen at the Tenerife Festival, then returned to Scottish Opera of Glasgow as Mimì in La Bohème, role subsequently performed in Köln and at the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit, and to the Teatro La Fenice di Venezia for Le nozze di Figaro under the baton of Giancarlo Andretta. More recent engagements include Falstaff (Alice) in Dresden, Edgar (Fidelia) in Valencia, Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Le nozze di Figaro at the Wiener Staatsoper under Riccardo Muti, at the Teatro alla Scala and at the Ravenna Festival. Future engagements of Francesca Pedaci are, among others, Berlioz’s Messe Solennelle in Bolzano with the Orchestra Haydn, a concert (Cantata Academica by Britten) and Falstaff in Dresden. Among Francesca Pedaci’s past performances are the Italian Singer in Capriccio, Ghita in Zemlinsky’s Il compleanno dell’infanta, Fanny in La cambiale di matrimonio, Giulia in Rossini’s La scala di seta, Micaela in Carmen, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Felice in I quatro rusteghi, Fiorilla in Il turco in Italia, Annetta in Der Freischütz Alice Ford in Falstaff, and the title role of Paisiello’s La molinara, at such theaters as l’Opéra Comique de Paris, the Teatro alla Scala, the Basel Opera Theatre, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli, and the Teatro Regio di Parma. A versatile artist, Francesca Pedaci has concertised extensively, having enjoyed recent performances of Mendelssohn’s A Mid Summenight’s Dream, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the Bruckner Te Deum, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung and in Donizetti’s Requiem, in such prestigious concert halls such as the Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam with Riccardo Chailly, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Schwetzingen Festival in Germany. Francesca Pedaci’s recordings include the La Scala production of Cherubini’s Lodoïska for Sony with Riccardo Muti, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni conducted by Gustav Kuhn, the title role of Pacini’s Saffo conducted by Maurizio Benini for Naxos-Marco Polo, Suora Infermiera in Suor Angelica conducted by Antonio Pappano for EMI and Caldara’s Passione di Gesù Cristo with Fabio Biondi, also for EMI.