Leo Nucci

Leo Nucci (born April 16, 1942, Castiglione dei Pepoli, near Bologna) is an Italian operatic baritone, one of the leading baritones of the 1980s and 1990s, particularly admired in Verdi roles.

He studied with Giuseppe Marchese and made his stage debut in Spoleto, as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, in 1967, he then joined the chorus of La Scala in Milan, and made his solo debut there in 1975, again as Figaro.

His career quickly took an international turn with debut at the Royal Opera House in London, as Miller in Luisa Miller, in 1978, and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as Renato/Ancharstrom in Un ballo in maschera, in 1980. Renato was also his debut role at the Paris Opéra in 1981, and the Salzburg Festival in 1989, under Herbert Von Karajan.

His repertoire encompasses the entire Italian repertory from bel canto to verismo, but his sonorous voice, secure technique and dramatic abilities are best displayed in Verdi - notably as Macbeth, Rigoletto, Luna, Germont, Posa, Amonasro, Iago, Falstaff. He has sung the role of Rigoletto alone more than 400 times. [1]

Nucci has enjoyed a long and very successul career and is still active. He is married to soprano Adriana Anelli, with whom he has a daughter called Cinzia.