Biography

I am Marina Serpagli, Italian mezzosoprano.
Music and singing have always been part of my life.

The beginnings

I began studying the piano, but above all singing, at the age of six in my parish choir in Pavia, the city where I was born. Soon afterwards, I joined the various choirs of the Vittadini Music Institute – now Conservatory – where I was studying.

It was the beginning of a wonderful journey: I discovered Renaissance polyphony, Baroque and twentieth-century music, as well as classical, sacred and secular repertoire. I developed my sense of pitch, sight-reading and listening skills, and experienced the excitement of my first concerts in front of an audience.

Later, I discovered opera and began studying classical singing with an endless passion, until it became my profession.

Training

I graduated in Classical Singing from the G. Nicolini Conservatory in Piacenza and, at the same time, earned a degree in Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures from the University of Pavia, bringing my background in the humanities into my study and interpretation of music.

Throughout my artistic career, I have had the privilege of studying and working with some true giants of the music and theatre world: Romano Gandolfi, Riccardo Chailly, Donato Renzetti, Leo Muscato, Mariella Devia and Barbara Frittoli, to name just a few. I have learned from each of them with humility and gratitude.

Repertoire

My repertoire spans different periods and musical languages, from Baroque to twentieth-century music. My roles have included Arnalta and Virtù in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Angelina and Tisbe in La Cenerentola, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, the Zelatrice and Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana and Mercédès in Carmen.

Theatres

I have performed in theatres including the Teatro Rossini in Pesaro, Teatro Regio in Parma, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Argentina in Rome, Teatro del Giglio in Lucca and Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna. Music has also taken me beyond Italy, from the Belgrade Early Music Festival to several concert tours in Germany.

Alongside the major repertoire, I have also had the opportunity to discover rarely performed works, such as Riccardo Zandonai’s L’Uccellino d’Oro, in which I performed the double role of the Stepmother and the Wicked Witch in the first modern performance of the opera, 112 years after its composition, at the Philharmonic Hall in Rovereto.

Concerts

And then there are concerts, which have always gone hand in hand with theatre throughout my musical life. My concert repertoire has included Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Verdi’s Requiem, which I have performed on several tours in Germany, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Sala Verdi of the Milan Conservatory.

I have also appeared at festivals and concert series including I Tesori di Orfeo at the Teatro Fraschini in Pavia, the Festival della Parola in Parma, Cartoline Pucciniane in Lucca and the Bellagio Festival.

Marina Serpagli holding sheet music in front of the arch of a neoclassical building

Many years have passed since that first choir, but for me singing is still this: a path that continues to change, and to change me, as I follow it.

If you would like to know a little more about me, you can continue from here. In my Artistic Journey, I have gathered images from the stage, the music and the encounters that have accompanied me along the way.

The artistic journey

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