Wokingham Choral Society

Photo: Gerald Place

Riccardo Simonetti joins Wokingham Choral Society for our performance of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius on 1st April 2000, where he will sing the roles of The Priest and The Angel of the Agony.

February 2000

Riccardo Simonetti   Baritone

Riccardo Simonetti was born in Lancashire and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music. In 1993 he won the Anne Zeigler/Esso Award.

His operatic roles include Rodimarte in Scarlatti's Il Trionfo dell'Onore (Liège, Brussels, Trento, Caen), Ping (Puccini's Turandot) in Nice, Marullo (Verdi's Rigoletto, Amsterdam), Albert (Massen-et's Werther) and The Count (Mozart's Marriage of Figaro) for English Touring Opera; and Flemish Deputy in Verdi's Don Carlos and Demetrius (Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream) with Broomhill Trust.

For English National Opera he has sung Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Papageno (Mozart's The Magic Flute), Schaunard (Puccini's La Bohème), Rossini's Figaro, Ygène in the world première of Gavin Bryers' Dr Ox's Experiment in Amsterdam, Nice and Brussels, Dancairo (Bizet's Carmen), and again Marullo.

Riccardo's future plans include Rossini's Figaro for Welsh National Opera; and Aeneas (Purcell's Dido and Aeneas), Rodolfo (Leoncavallo's La Bohème), Silvio (Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci) and Figaro with English National Opera.