Lucia Cirillo originally studied classical guitar, graduating with the highest honours from the Conservatorio di Musica di Trento before studying at the Academia Chigiana di Siena and Musik- Akademie der Stadt Basel with Oscar Ghiglia, winning the Concours France-Italien de Musique de Paris. She then decided to dedicate herself to lyric singing, studying at the Conservatoro di Musica de Piacenza under A. Tabiadon where she was awarded a diploma with the highest honours. She studied further with Karl Richter, Dunja Vejzovic and Regina Resnik before returning to the opera school of the Conservatoria in Piacenza where she obtained her performers diploma.
Lucia has won a number of high profile European competitions including the Concorso per Giovani Cantanti Lirici d’Europa As. Li. Co in 2003 for the role of Idamante in Idomeneo, the Concorso Internazionale per Cantanti Toti Dal Monte for the role of Fidalma in Il Matrimonio Segreto and the Concorso Internazionale di Musica da Camera Citta di Conegliono.
Her operatic debut was at the Circuito Lirico Toscano in Il Cappella di Paglia di Firenze as the Baronessa di Champigny followed by the title role in La Belle Hélène.
Since then she has sung Idamante for the Circuito Lirico Lombardo; Isolier in Le Comte Ory, Feodor in Boris Godunov in Bologna, Andronico in Bajazet in Venice, Paris and Madrid, and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro in Treviso and La Scala Milan. She also played Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte in Treviso, Antwerp and Ghent; Angelina in La Cenerentola for the Circuito Lirico Abruzzese (directed by Massimo Ranieri), Tisbe in La Cenerentola at Glyndebourne and Berlin, Amore, Il Valletto, Virtù and Venere in L’Incoronazione di Poppea at Glyndebourne, Paris, and for the Circuito Lirico Lombardo, Annio in La Clemenza di Tito in Caen, Smeraldine in L’Amore de Trois Oranges in Paris, Emirena in Adriano in Siria in Jesi and the mezzosoprano part in Wolf in Amsterdam and Paris.
In addition, Ms. Cirillo sings for the most important Baroque orchestras in Europe such as: L’Europa Galante, Il Giardino Armonico, L’Accademia Bizantina, La Cappella della Pietà dei Turchini, and Il Concerto Italiano.
Lucia Cirillo sings both the Baroque and operatic classical and bel canto repertoire such as Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Richard Strauss and is an accomplished lieder singer. She has worked with some of the most important conductors and directors including Vladimir Jurovski, Fabio Biondi, Ottavio Dantone, Daniele Gatti, Sir Peter Hall, Rabert Carsen, Gilbert Déflo and Pierluigi Pizzi.
She has recorded DVDs with Decca of L’Incoronazione di Poppea, with Opus Arte of La Cenerentola, and with TDK Opera of L’Amour des Trois Oranges. She has also sung on the first ever recording of Vivaldi’s recently discovered Dixit Dominus by Deutsche Grammophon CD.
Ms. Cirillo’s upcoming major engagements include:
Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte at Glyndebourne, 2009.
Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma in Granada, 2010.
Alceste in Vivaldi;s Ercole sul Termodonte in Vienna, 2010 (contract pending).
Selinda in Vivaldi’s Il Faranace in Vienna, 2010.
Zerlina in Don Giovanni in Venice, 2010 (contract pending).
Sméraldine in Prokofiev’s L’Amour des Trois Oranges in Paris, 2012.
