Italian baritone Mario Bellanova returns from the summer spent in Japan and Australia. After having sung in the production of Teatro Reggio di Torino’s La Traviata with Maestro Noseda, he was invited on tour with the company to Tokyo. He then traveled to Adelaide, where he made his operatic concert debut to critical acclaim.
Some of Mr. Bellanova’s most recent engagements include performances of Carmen at Caracalla, La Traviata at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Andrea Chénier on tour in Japan with the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Tristan und Isolde at the Teatro di Roma, and Turandot at the Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla.
From 2003-2005, he was heard in Carmen and Turandot at the Palais Nikaia in Nice, France, La Fanciulla del West at the Teatro Reggio di Torino and Tel-Aviv Opera, Carmen at the Olympics Stadium in Seoul, Korea and was then invited by Placido Domingo to Washington Opera for Andrea Chénier.
In 2002, he was heard in Les Contes D’Hoffmann at the Teatro di Roma. He was then re-invited in 2003 and 2004, for the productions of Faust, Sly by Wolf-Ferrari and Francesca da Rimini.
Mr. Bellanova was invited in 2000 to the Opera de Nice, where he sang as well as was stunt trainer and coordinator for the fight scenes in Giancarlo Del Monaco’s production of La Fanciulla Del West. He also performed in Falstaff, Gianni Schicchi and Otello which was then presented at the Opera de Montpellier.
In 1998, Mr. Bellanova debuted the role of Scarpia in Tosca at the Solingen Theater and in Italy with Madame Butterfly.
From 1993-1997, he was engaged as a permanent soloist in Germany at the Bonn Opera house and participated in productions of La Traviata, La Fanciulla del West, Carmen, Manon Lescaut, Barbiere di Siviglia, Samson et Dalila, Don Giovanni and Der Rosenkavalier.
Not only at home on the operatic stage, Mr. Bellanova has toured extensively throughout Germany and Italy in concerts dedicated to the great tradition of Neapolitan song.
Mr. Bellanova has sung with such artists as Domingo, Schicoff, Giacomini, Baltsa, Frittoli, Raimondi, Pola, Cura, Pons, Uria-Manson. He has sung under the baton of Placido Domingo, Gianandrea Noseda, Marco Guidarini, Renato Palumbo, Giuliano Carella, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Donato Renzetti and worked with staged directors such as Götz Friedrich, Giancarlo Del Monaco, Hugo de Hana, Marta Domingo and Comencini.
Mr. Bellanova was born in Taranto, Italy. He studied singing at the Conservatorio di Venezia with Franco Ghitti, and at the Musikhochschule of Cologne where he participated in master classes with Kurt Moll and Aldo Protti. After his first concerts with the Jugendorchester of Cologne, he sang Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeria and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro.