Lorenzo Malfatti coaches a Solisti member

We at Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca are very sad to report that Lorenzo Malfatti, festival co-founder, friend and mentor, passed away early on Friday, November 23, 2007, in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Maestro Malfatti's contributions to the opera world were extensive. He served as a mentor to a number of the world's great singers and helped create performance and learning opportunities for young musicians internationally..

Please click here to read the full press release, which includes funeral information.

Click here to read about the Lorenzo Malfatti Memorial Fund.

Baritone Lorenzo Malfatti, internationally recognized voice and opera coach, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. He was chief preparatory coach of the opera department for many memorable years collaborated the legendary leading basso of the Metropolitan Opera, Italo Tajo. Mr. Malfatti co-founded and is now the Artistic Advisor of the Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca. Since 1960, he has brought over 1000 students to Lucca to study.

Mr. Malfatti’s career began at the age of 19 during World War II as a G.I. in India where he was chosen by Andre Kostelanetz and Lily Pons to perform with them during their famous tour of the Orient. After the war he was a merit scholar at the Juilliard School where he became a protégé of the celebrated baritones Mack Harrell and Giuseppe de Luca, and was one of the first recipients of the Fulbright Award along with Aaron Copland, David Diamond, Lucas Foss and Lee Hoiby.

While in Italy as a Fulbright Scholar, Mr. Malfatti studied at the Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, St. Cecilia Conservatory and Academy in Rome. He then enjoyed four years at the famous Accademia Chigiana in Siena where he sang leading roles in Franco Zeffirelli’s first stagings. He later became permanent baritone soloist of the Italian Swiss National Radio singing everything from Monteverdi. Vivaldi, Rossini, Verdi and Schoenberg to Charles Ives. Mr. Malfatti also concretized with the RAI in Rome, where for four years he was on scholarship with the opera’s leading coach, Luigi Ricci.

At the invitation and under the supervision of the composer, Mr. Malfatti made his professional American debut in the Tanglewood premiere of Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land. This led to a long-tenured position as director of vocal activities at Chatham College as well as multiple appearances as soloist with William Steinberg and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In 2004 he received an honorary doctorate from Chatham College.

The most fun he ever had…
o Co-founder and Director of Opera Barga in Barga, Italy
o Head vocal coach of the apprentice program of the Lyric Opera of Chicago
o Substituting for Eleanor Steber at her request at the Cleveland Institute of Music
o Italian diction coach at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria
o His great love and knowledge of the wonderful regional folk songs of Italy culminated in his co-founding and becoming vocal director of the internationally famous company, I Campagnoli.

Highlights of his career include…
o Dubbing the singing voices of famous movies stars for film distribution in Italy
o Tutoring Sophia Loren in English while she was filming the role of Aida to the singing voice of Renata Tebaldi
o Performing the title role in the first television version of Don Giovanni at the Cine-Città in Rome
o Attending the American premiere of Les Misérables on Broadway in which three of his students were performing leading roles
o Judging innumerable Metropolitan Opera auditions all over the USA
o His proudest moment was being selected to represent Italy throughout Europe singing the leading role, Testo, in Il Combattimenti di Tancredi e Clorinda by Monteverdi during the composer’s 400th anniversary year.

Recognized world-wide as an expert in recitative, he is conducts master classes in Italian diction, emphasizing “recitative style,” in the USA, Canada and Europe. He is also co-founder and Director of the Accademia Vocale in Lucca, Italy, where he prepared leading singers for their debut performances at the world’s leading opera houses including La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera and Covent Garden.