Rancatore Desirée

Representation: General Management

Born in Palermo, she studied violin and piano before starting studying singind at a very young age with her mother Maria Argento. In Roma she perfected with Margaret Baker Genovesi and she now works with Mariella Devia. She mad her debut at 19 as Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Salzburg Festival and, in 1997, make her Italian debut opening the season at Teatro Regio in Parma with Cilea’s L’Arlesiana.

Her carreer brings her immediately to perform on the world’s most prestigeous opera houses. Among her most notable successes we can remember: Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffmann (Paris, Wien, London, Zurich, Madrid, La Scala, Palermo, Rome, Toulouse, Turin, Parma, Macerata); Gilda in Rigoletto (Melbourne, San Francisco, Las Palmas, Tokyo, Venice, Mexico City, Wien, Verona, Parma, Beijing, Florence, Zurich, Bologna, Cagliari, Taormina, Hong Kong); Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor (Oviedo, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, Zurigo, Wiesbaden, Bologna, Ferrara, Bergamo); Konigin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte (Paris, Rome); Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Bari, Madrid, Palermo, Cagliari); Lakmé (Palermo, Oviedo, Tokyo); Adina in L’elisir d’amore (Paris, Kobe, Tokyo, Venice); Elvira in I Puritani (Wien, Savonlinna, Palermo, Torino, La Coruña); Contessa di Folleville in Il viaggio a Reims (Bologna, Genova, Bruxelles); Amina in La Sonnambula (Las Palmas); Sivene in Gluck’s Le Cinesi (Valencia); Adele in Le Comte Ory (Lyon).

She works regularly with conductors as: Marco Armiliato, Andrea Battistoni, Fabio Biondi, Daniele Callegari, Myung-Whun Chung, Ottavio Dantone, James Conlon, Antonino Fogliani, Riccardo Frizza, Bernard Haitink, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Charles Mackerras, Lorin Maazel, Michele Mariotti, Enrique Mazzola, Stefano Montanari, Riccardo Muti, Gianandrea Noseda, Renato Palumbo, Stefano Ranzani, Daniele Rustioni, Nello Santi, Emmanuel Villaume, Massimo Zanetti, etc.. and directors such as: Dario Argento, Robert Carsen, Beppe De Tomasi, Damiano Michieletto, Laurent Pelly, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Mario Pontiggia, Ettore Scola, Luigi Squarzina, Graham Vick, etc…

In December 2004 she sang the role of Semele in Salieri’s L’Europa riconosciuta for the re-opening of Teatro alla Scala in Milan conducted by Riccardo Muti and directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi. The opera has been released on dvd by Virgin Classics.

Following the natural development of her voice, she widened her repertoire making her debut as: Violetta in La traviata (Montecarlo, Taormina, Palermo, Genova, Torino); Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda and Bellini’s Norma at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, where she also appeared as Musetta in La bohéme and Norina in Don Pasquale; Valencienne in La vedova allegra at Teatro Filarmonico in Verona; Liù in Turandot at Teatro Verdi in Trieste; Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème at Teatro Massimo in Palermo, where she also appeared as Zerlina in Auber’s Frà Diavolo.

She has been awarded with many prestigeous international prizes, among which: Premio Bellini d’oro, Premio Speciale Ester Mazzoleni; medaglia d’Oro Città di Milano; Premio Paladino d’Oro; Premio Kaleidos 2008; Premio Zenatello as the best singer in 2008 at the Arena di Verona Festival; Mimosa d’Oro Internazionale 2008 in Agrigento and in 2010 the Oscar della lirica from Fondazione Arena di Verona as most popular soprano.

Her rich discography includes: Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; il film Mozart in Turkey shot at Topkapi in Istanbul; Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Paris, Les Huguenots, Lucia di Lammermoor, La cambiale di matrimonio and Les contes d’Hoffmann for Dynamic; Ascanio in Alba for Bongiovanni; Die Vögel for Arthaus Musik; Die Zauberflöte, Les contes d’Hoffmann for TDK; Lucia di Lammermoor and La cambiale di matrimonio for Naxos.

Her wide concert repertoire includes: Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle; Mozart’s C minor Mass , Exultate, jubilate and Requiem; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. She has performed these and many others with prestigeous orchestras, among others, such as: Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI in Turin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and Liverpool Philarmonic Orchestra. She recently appeared in many symphonic programmes with Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo, with the project Barcelona Opera Rock on music by Queen as well as with the highly praised Requiem per le vittime della mafia composed by Paolo Arcà, Marco Tutino, Marco Betta, Giovanni Sollima and Matteo D’Amico at Teatro Massimo in Palermo.

Among her recent and future engagements: her debutto as Contessa Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania; the title role in Bellini’s Norma at Teatro Massimo in Palermo and in Seoul conducted by M° Roberto Abbado; La bohème (Mimì) at Luglio Musicale Trapanese; her debut as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus at Teatro Comunale in Bologna; Nicola Piovani’s La Pietà conducted by the composer at Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania; her debut as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Teatro La Fenice in Venice.