Opera Scotland

Cecilia Gasdia Suggest updates

Born Verona, 14 August 1960.

Italian soprano, later manager.

Cecilia Gasdia graduated from the Conservatorio di Verona in 1980, winning First Prize in the 'New Voices of Opera' competition.

She made her debut in 1981 at Florence as Giulietta I Capuleti e i Montecchi, returning in 1984 as Violetta. She first appeared at La Scala Milan in 1982 as Anna Bolena, as a late replacement for Montserrat Caballé.

After her first appearance at the Rossini Festival at Pesaro in 1983 she was quickly seen as a Rossini specialist. As the little-known operas from his Neapolitan and Parisian periods were gradually edited and revived she took leading parts in many of them. Important recordings conducted by Claudio Scimone with I Solisti Veneti featured Gasdia in the title roles of Armida, Ermione and Zelmira. With Claudio Abbado she recorded Corinna Il viaggio a Reims.

When Riccardo Muti was in charge of the Philadelphia Orchestra he conducted concert performances of Rigoletto in 1985. Gasdia sang Gilda at Philadelphia and Carnegie Hall. She also appeared with the Chicago Opera as Bellini's Giulietta. In 1986 she made her Met debut as Gounod's Juliette.

The later period of her singing career was devoted principally to concert and recital work. Her Edinburgh appearance as Armida certainly showed no diminution in her vocal or dramatic powers, and was an altogether thrilling performance.

In 2018 she was appointed to the role of General Manager and Artistic Director of the Arena di Verona.