Cecilia Bartoli sings in the most important concert halls in Europe, the United States and Japan. Her stage appearances include prestigious opera houses and festivals such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Salzburg Festival and the Zürich Opera House, where she has presented many of her operatic roles for the first time.

In September 2010 she returns to the Theater an der Wien for Handel's Semele (with William Christie) - a Robert Carsen production which has been successfully released on DVD - and in January 2011 to Zurich for a new production of Le comte Ory.

Maria Malibran

Recently, Cecilia Bartoli has devoted her time to the early 19th century - the era of Italian Romanticism and Belcanto - and especially the legendary singer Maria Malibran, whose 200th birthday on 24 March 2008 was marked by a historical day in Malibran's birthplace Paris: Cecilia Bartoli sang three concerts in one day as the centre-piece of a Malibran-Marathon at Salle Pleyel - collaborating with Lang Lang, Vadim Repin, Adam Fischer and Myung-Whun Chung - while the City of Paris showed her Barcelona Concert on a big screen outside the Hôtel de Ville, where Cecilia Bartoli's mobile Malibran Museum was stationed to honour that special day.

Further bicentenary events were the CD Maria, the DVD The Barcelona Concert/Malibran Rediscovered, extensive concert tours as well as operatic appearances as Cenerentola, Sonnambula and Halévy's Clari - in a Malibran opera which had not been performed since 1829. The first complete recording of La Sonnambula with period instruments and a mezzo-soprano in the title-role (with Juan Diego Flórez as Elvino) rounded off this great homage to Maria Malibran. The Romantic Revolution was sensationally carried further at the Konzerthaus Dortmund in June 2010 with a historically informed rendering of Norma. Cecilia Bartoli in the title-role was joined by Thomas Hengelbrock who conducted the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble on period instruments and a cast that reflected the original vocality of Bellini's own time.

Most of 2009/10, however, was dedicated to a breathtaking voyage towards 18th century Naples and its castrato stars. Apart from the release of the record-breaking solo album, Sacrificium, concerts with a so far unknown castrato repertoire took place in all major European capitals. A further highlight were the concert performances of Handel's Giulio Cesare conducted by William Christie at the Salle Pleyel (Paris) with Andreas Scholl and Philippe Jaroussky.

Cecilia Bartoli has been endowed with the Italian Knighthood and is an "Accademico effettivo" of Santa Cecilia, Rome, a French Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite as well as an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, London. Most recently she was given the prestigious Italian prize Bellini d'Oro, a Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes, one of the highest awards of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, and the Médaille Grand Vermeil de la Ville de Paris.

On the occasion of the Handel Jubilee Year 2009, Cecilia Bartoli was made Honorary Member of the advisory board of the Handel House Halle Foundation, and in the subsequent year received the Halle Handel Prize. Also in 2010, in Copenhagen, she was awarded the renowned Danish Léonie Sonning Music Prize, in presence of Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II. To round off this eventful year, the venerable University College of Dublin decided to pay homage to Cecilia Bartoli and her work by making her an Honorary Doctor of Music.

July 2010/mw

Cecilia Bartoli Official Website

Cecilia Bartoli Official Website

Cecilia Bartoli Decca Classics's Website