Francesco Meli is one of the world’s most charming and popular tenors.
Born in Genoa in 1980, he began his singing studies at the age of seventeen at his hometown’s Conservatory “Niccolò Paganini” and continued them with Vittorio Terranova, subsequently making a name for himself in various opera competitions, including the Caruso, Zandonai and Tosti.
In 2002, he made his debut in Macbeth, Puccini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Messa di Gloria at the Festival dei due Mondi di Spoleto, beginning a remarkable career in the bel canto and Rossini repertoire. In 2022, he celebrates twenty years of his career, eighteen years of collaboration with La Scala and also his twentieth role sung in the Milanese theatre. In fact, he made his debut at La Scala when he was only 23 years old in Les Dialogues des Carmelites under the baton of Riccardo Muti, and returned there in the following years for Otello, Idomeneo, Don Giovanni , Maria Stuarda, Der Rosenkavalier, Carmen, Giovanna d’Arco, I due Foscari, Don Carlo, La traviata, Ernani, Tosca, Il Trovatore, Aida, L’elisir d’amore, Macbeth, Un ballo in maschera.
In 2004, he made his debut as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, subsequently singing the part in countless theatres. In 2005, he opened the season of the Carlo Felice in Don Giovanni and the Rossini Opera Festival with a new production of Bianca e Falliero. He sang in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Zurich, in Don Giovanni at Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, in La Sonnambula in Lyon for a Virgin recording alongside Natalie Dessay, in Così fan tutte in Vienna conducted by Riccardo Muti where he returned for a new production of Anna Bolena, Maometto II at Rossini Opera Festival and in Tokyo, Torvaldo e Dorliska again in Pesaro for the inauguration of the Festival in 2006, then Il Duca di Mantova for his debuts at Royal Opera House and Metropolitan Opera.
Since 2009, he has gradually abandoned Belcanto roles in favour of more operatic ones: after I Lombardi alla prima crociata, Simon Boccanegra and Werther in Parma, he debuted the major Verdi roles, and in the Verdi year of 2013 he sang in Simon Boccanegra, I due Foscari, Ernani and Nabucco at the Rome Opera and in Salzburg conducted by Riccardo Muti, Ernani at the Metropolitan in New York, Macbeth conducted by Muti in Chicago, Simon Boccanegra in Vienna and at La Fenice, Un ballo in maschera in Parma, Rome, Arena di Verona and La Fenice, Il Trovatore at La Fenice and in new productions in Salzburg, Covent Garden, Amsterdam and Monte-Carlo, I due Foscari in Los Angeles, Covent Garden and La Scala, Giovanna d’Arco in Salzburg and at La Scala for the season opener, Don Carlo at La Scala, Aida at the Salzburg Festival conducted by Riccardo Muti, new productions of Carmen in Madrid and at Covent Garden. He has opened La Scala’s season five times, sung in the opening concert of the Olympics in Turin and the Expo 2015 concert in Milan, both broadcast by RAI.
Francesco Meli has over fifty roles in the repertoire and has been conducted by the world’s leading conductors, working regularly with Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Fabio Luisi, Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, Gianandrea Noseda, Antonio Pappano, Riccardo Frizza, Daniele Rustioni and Yuri Temirkanov.
He sang solo recitals at La Scala, London, Tokyo and St Petersburg, in Verdi’s Requiem with Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Fabio Luisi, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Gianandrea Noseda and Yuri Temirkanov at La Scala, London, Paris, Zurich, Moscow, Salzburg, St Petersburg, Tokyo and Vienna. In 2019, singing again in the Requiem conducted by Muti, he performed for the first time with the Berliner Philharmoniker during the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden.
With regard to symphonic repertoire, in addition to Verdi’s Requiem he has in his repertoire those of Mozart, Donizetti, Dvořák and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater, Puccini and Mascagni’s Messa di Gloria, Verdi’s Inno delle Nazioni, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. In chamber music he has a predilection for the Romanze by Tosti, Respighi but also Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi, Duparc and Ravel. He recorded Britten’s Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo and Liszt’ s Three Sonnets of Petrarch (Opus Arte).
He won the Abbiati Prize in 2013 for Verdi interpretations, La Maschera d’oro, the Oscar della lirica, the Zenatello Prize at the Arena di Verona, the Orazio Tosi Prize, the Carlo Alberto Cappelli Prize, the Pertile Prize, the Lugo Prize, the Prandelli Prize, the Mascagni Prize, the Tiberini d’oro, the ISO d’oro, the Targa Labò and the Pavarotti d’oro.
He is featured on numerous DVDs published by Deutsche Grammophon, Unitel, Opus Arte.
Among his most recent engagements, Simon Boccanegra in London, Genoa and Vienna, Ernani and La Traviata at La Scala, Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Riccardo Muti in Tokyo, Baden-Baden and at the Salzburg Festival, Aida at the Teatro La Fenice, Aida again but in concert form in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Muti. The 2019/2020 season includes the Verdi Opera Gala in Piacenza, Giovanna d’Arco in concert at the Monnaie, Ernani in concert in Lyon, Paris and Vichy, Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Muti conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Musikverein in Vienna. He opened the 2019/20 season at La Scala, singing as Cavaradossi in Tosca, under the baton of Riccardo Chailly and directed by David Livermore. On 23 February 2020, when La Scala was closed for the covid, he was engaged there with Il Trovatore, another of his signature roles, whose 50th performance he would celebrate with one of the February performances.
The resumption of activity in the summer of 2020 saw him in Un ballo in maschera in concert form at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in concert with the piano at the Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, La Scala, La Fenice, at the Valle d’Itria and Scolacium Archaeological Park Festivals, and in concert with the orchestra at the Arena di Verona.
At the end of August he sang in Verdi’s Requiem, conducted by Zubin Mehta, at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Then, again the Requiem with the Orchestra and Choir of La Scala conducted by Riccardo Chailly in the cathedrals of Milan, Bergamo and Brescia. In October 2020, he was Radamès in Aida in concert form at La Scala, and on 5 December he sang in I due Foscari in concert form at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.
He took part in the show ‘A riveder le stelle’ that La Scala organised for 7 December 2020 in collaboration with RAI.
At the beginning of 2021, he made an extensive tour of Japan, in concert and as Cavaradossi in Tosca at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. During the year, he performed in concerts and operas at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Arena di Verona, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, Teatro San Carlo, Bayerische Staatsoper. In November 2021, his first monographic album, ‘Prima Verdi’, was released. In December 2021, he sang for the fifth time for the season opening at La Scala, as Macduff in Macbeth.
In 2022, he sang in various concerts and galas, as well as at the Semperoper Dresden (Aida), Teatro alla Scala and Lyric Opera of Chicago (Un ballo in maschera), Opera di Roma (Ernani), Margitszigeti Színház in Budapest (Tosca), Arena di Verona (La traviata), Royal Opera House (Aida) and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Ernani).
In the 2023 season he sang in three more productions of the Teatro del Maggio (Don Carlo, La traviata and Carmen), before returning to the Royal Opera House to sing again as Radamès in Aida and in Tokyo on tour with Traviata, a role he will sing again at the Arena di Verona Festival.
After opening the 23/24 Season at La Scala in Don Carlo, Francesco sang Un ballo in maschera at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Il corsaro at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, L’elisir d’amore at the Teatro Regio in Parma, Carmen at the Arena di Verona, La battaglia di Legnano at the Festival Verdi in Parma, Simon Boccanegra at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and I lombardi alla prima crociata at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
In this season: the debut of Otello, season opening title of La Fenice, La Traviata at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Messa da Requiem at Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden under M° Daniele Gatti, Tosca at Teatro alla Scala, at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and at Festival Pucciano at Torre del Lago, Nabucco and Carmen at Arena di Verona, I lombardi alla prima crociata at Teatro Real de Madrid and Trilogia Verdiana at Teatro Municipale in Piacenza.
2025
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