NIZZA Amarilli,
soprano

Amarilli Nizza is one of the most important soprano on the international opera scene.  Her versatile and powerful voice, sustained by solid technique and rich phrasing combined with a remarkable performing talent have allowed her to take up a vast range of roles. Her strong scenic presence opened the doors of theatres and opera festivals all around the world where she is being plauded as one of the most remarkable sopranos of her generation.
Amarilli Nizza was born in Milan. She is a great-great-granddaughter of the soprano Medea Figner. Figner was also the poetic inspiration of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who composed for her and her husband, the tenor Nikolai Figner, The Queen of Spades (opera) (1890) and Iolanta (1892)).

From childhood, she studied piano and singing with her grandmother Claudia Biadi. In 1993 she won the competition Mattia Battistini and debuted in Madama Butterfly (as Cio-Cio-San) by Puccini at Teatro Flavio Vespasiano in Rieti. After a series of early experiences, in 2001 Amarilli Nizza started to be internationally in the spotlight by performing mainly the great Italian opera repertoire.

Career
She was Giorgetta in Il tabarro at Teatro dell’Opera in Rome in 2002, in 2003 Francesca in Francesca da Rimini, in 2005 Thaïs (opera), in 2006 Micaela in Carmen (opera), in 2008 Madama Butterfly at Terme di Caracalla and Amica,and in 2010 Margherita / Elena in Mefistofele.

At Teatro Verdi (Trieste) in 2003 she was Nedda  in Pagliacci conducted by Massimo de Bernart, in 2004 Anna in I cavalieri di Ekebù, in 2005 Anna Glavari in The merry widow with Vittorio Grigolo, in 2007 Suor Angelica and Manon Lescaut conducted by Daniel Oren. In 2014 again Madama Butterfly conducted by Donato Renzetti.

In 2003 she performed Tosca for Arena di Verona foundation in Cipro. At Arena di Verona she debuted as Aida in 2005 and performed this role until 2018 (in 2014 directed by La Fura dels Baus); in 2006 she was Nedda in Pagliacci by Leoncavallo. In 2012 Micaela in Carmen by Bizet and Liù in Turandot by Puccini. In 2013 she returned to perform the role of Abigaille in Nabucco by Verdi and of Aida. In 2014, she sang her first Cio Cio San at Arena di Verona (Madama Butterfly). At Teatro Filarmonico in Verona she debuted in 2004 as the main role in Tosca by Puccini; then The merry widow (operetta) by Lehár in 2005, Manon Lescaut in 2011 and Nedda in Pagliacci in 2012; Odabella in Attila (opera) by Verdi in 2013.

In 2007 she debuted as Tosca with José Cura at Wiener Staatsoper.

During the Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago in 2010 she debuted Madama Butterfly and came back to this festival in 2014 to perform Suor Angelica and Giorgetta in Il Tabarro.

For the first time she sang in Naples in 2006, thus performing Desdemona in Otello at Teatro San Carlo; again in 2006 she performed Madama Butterfly at Arena Flegrea, where she returned in 2009 for the same role.

At Teatro Regio in Turin in 2008 she performed Fidelia in Edgar, aired by RAI Italian television,[7] and in 2014 sang Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, which was aired live HD at cinemas around the world, in specific over eighty cinemas in Italy and on Rai Radio 3. This opera was aired afterwards on Rai 5 TV with an audience of 97.000 people. In January 2015 she returned in Turin at Teatro Regio to perform the main character in Suor Angelica.[9]

In 2011 she debuted at Royal Opera House in London as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, then Leonora in Il trovatore at Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (opera) at Lipsia Opera, and Nedda in Pagliacci with Alberto Gazale, conducted by Daniel Oren at Teatro Verdi (Salerno).

In 2012 she performed Mimì in La bohème at Opéra de Nice. In 2013 Amica at Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Madama Butterfly at Fenice in Venice, where she returned for the same role in 2014.

In Spain she sang in Mallorca (Tosca, 2005), in Oviedo Un ballo in maschera at Teatro Campoamor in 2009, and at Oviedo Opera Madama Butterfly in 2014, in Siviglia (Madama Butterfly in 2012), in Pamplona (Madama Butterfly, 2012 ) and at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (Madama Butterfly in 2013 and Il Tabarro in a concert version, 2014).

In Germany she made her debut in 2003 as Aida at Deutsche Oper in Berlin, where she returned in 2005 for Pagliacci and in 2007 for Suor Angelica. Moreover, she debuted at Staatsoper in Hamburg (2011, Macbeth; 2013, I due Foscari), at Lipsia Opera (2011 and 2012, Macbeth; 2013 and 2014, Nabucco; Tosca in 2014; “Nabucco” in 2016) and at Semperoper in Dresden (2012, Tosca; 2013 and 2016 Macbeth).

In China she performed in 2006 in a concert in Beijing in collaboration with Teatro San Carlo, in 2013 in a concert Verdi/Wagner in Macao directed by Lu Jia, and in 2015 in Andrea Chenier at Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts directed by Lu Jia and in 2019 in La Fanciulla del west .

In 2015 she performed in Suor Angelica at Teatro Regio di Torino, in Nabucco and Tosca at Oper Leipzig, Macbeth at De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Andrea Chenier directed by Lu Jia with Alberto Gazale in Pechino (China), in Aida with Gregory Kunde at Arena di Verona directed by Andrea Battistoni in a production by Franco Zeffirelli, in Macbeth at Teatro Comunale di Bologna and in Manon Lescaut at Hamburgische Staatsoper.

In 2016 she performed in Macbeth at Semperoper Dresden, in Suor Angelica at Opera di Firenze, in Nabucco at Opera di Leipzig, in Madama Butterfly at Teatro Municipale di Piacenza and at Teatro Comunale di Modena.
In 2017 she played for the first time Alice Ford in Falstaff at Teatro Regio di Parma ( Verdi Festival) and Minnie in La fanciulla del west in a big coproduction ( Lucca, Modena, Ravenna, Pisa, Livorno ). She was Aida in Arena of Verona and Giorgetta in Tabarro ( Teatro San Carlo Napoli ).
In 2018 she was Manon Lescaut  in Verona directed by Graham Vick , Cio – cio’ san in Cagliari ( Renzetti- Tarabella ),Tosca ( Nagoya – Japan  and Teatru Aurora Malta ),Maddalena ( Andrea Chenier ) Teatro Bellini Catania,   and she played for the first time the role of Norma in Gaulitana Festival and Santuzza ( Cavalleria rusticana ) in Caserta .
In 2019 she was Abigaille at Teatro Verdi Trieste , Tosca ( Teatro lirico Cagliari ) , Madama Butterfly ( Teatro Politeama Catanzaro, Teatro San Carlo Napoli ).She was Turandot ( debut ) at Puccini Festival in Torre del lago , La fanciulla del west in Beijing ncpa and Madama Butterfly 8 Nagoya – Japan ).
In 2020 she was Adriana Lecouvreur a Genova ( teatro carlo felice ) , Tosca ( Puccini Festival Torre del lago ).
In 2023 Santuzza( Cavalleria Rusticana ) e Suor angelica ( Trittico )  in Salerno .

Amarilli Nizza is regularly special guest on rai 1 ( italian television ) in the broadcast ” Applausi “by Gigi MArzullo  and L’opera italiana ( rai 5 ).

Partial discography
She recorded several CDs for different labels and recorded many DVDs. She firstly recorded a CD including all Mazurkas by Chopin with the pianist Enrica Ciccarelli, copied by Pauline Viardot, Le cantate By Zingarelli ( Agorà ) , The great queens By Donizetti ( Agorà ),

Puccini: Opera Arias – Amarilli Nizza/Ostrava Dvorak Theatre Orchestra/Gianluca Martinenghi/Julian Reynolds/Arturo Toscanini Foundation Orchestra, 2008 Dynamic
Verdi: Duetti verdiani – Roberto Frontali/Amarilli Nizza/Ostrava Dvorak Theatre Orchestra/Gianluca Martinenghi, 2011 Dynamic
Verdi : My Verdi – Amarilli Nizza / Janacek orchestra | Gianluca Martinenghi \ Dynamic
Verdi: Aida – Daniel Oren (conductor), Orlin Anastassov, Marianne Cornetti, Amarilli Nizza, Walter Fraccaro, Marco Spotti, Ambrogio Maestri. Arena di Verona 2009 live
DVD

Puccini, Edgar – José Cura (Edgar), Amarilli Nizza (Fidelia), Julia Gertseva (Tigrana), Marco Vratogna (Frank), conductor Yoram David and direction by Lorenzo Mariani – DVD e Blu-ray Disc 2008 – ArtHaus Musik/Rai Trade
Verdi, I Vespri Siciliani – Vladimir Stoyanov (Guido di Monforte), Cesare Lana (Il Sire di Bethune), Lorenzo Muzzi (Il Conte Vaudemont), Renzo Zulian (Arrigo), Orlin Anastassov (Giovanni da Procida), Amarilli Nizza (La duchessa Elena), Stefano Ranzani (conductor), Orchestra della Fondazione Arturo Toscanini – DVD Dynamic Record
Puccini, Il Trittico – Amarilli Nizza, Alberto Mastromarino, Anna Maria Chiuri, Rubens Pelizzari, Alessandro Cosentino, Cristina Pezzoli, Julian Reynolds (conductor) – CD DVD e Blu-ray Disc – Rai Trade
Mozart, Don Giovanni – Renato Bruson (Don Giovanni), Nikolay Bikov (Il commendatore), Anna Laura Longo (Donna Anna), Luca Canonici (Don Ottavio), Amarilli Nizza (Donna Elvira), Stefano de Peppo (Leporello), Orchestra Filarmonica di Roma, Michael Halasz (conductor), Enrico Castiglione (director) – DVD Pan Dream Edition
Riccardo Zandonai, I cavalieri di Ekebù – Viktor Afanasenko (Gosta Berling), Mariana Pentcheva (La comandante), Amarilli Nizza (Anna), Carlo Striuli (Sintram), Luca Grassi (Cristian), Eldar Aliev (Samzelius), Federico Tiezzi (director) – DVD BNG Edition
Amarilli Nizza worked with conductors such as: Maurizio Rinaldi, Daniel Oren, Eve Queler, Bruno Bartoletti, Alain Lombard, Philippe Auguin, Markus Letonja, Patrick Fournillier, Renato Palumbo, Maurizio Arena, Maurizio Benini, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Alain Guingal, Donato Renzetti, Giuliano Carella, Gunter Neuhold, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Massimo de Bernart, Stefano Ranzani, Keri-Linn Wilson, Steven Mercurio, Nikša Bareza, Ralph Weikart, Yoram David, Massimiliano Stefanelli, Vjekoslav Sutey, Romano Gandolfi, George Pehlivanian, Paolo Carignani, Julian Kovachev, Carlo Palleschi, Roberto Rizzi-Brignoli, Paolo Arrivabeni, Fabrizio Maria Carminati, Antonino Fogliani. And directors like: Franco Zeffirelli, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Saverio Marconi, Vivien Hewitt Stefano Vizioli, Stephen Lawless, Jean Louis Grinda, Gianfranco De Bosio, Walter Pagliaro, Hugo De Ana, Gilbert Delfo, Alberto Fassini, Roberto De Simone, Massimo Ranieri, Federico Tiezzi, Nicolas Joel, Gino Landi, Cristina Pezzoli, Isabelle Wagner, Giorgio Gallione, Ivan Stefanutti, Dieter Kaegi, Leo de Bernardinis, Beppe De Tomasi, Pierfrancesco Maestrini, Renata Scotto, Antonello Madau Diaz, David Pountney, Goetzhe Friedrich, Pier Alli, Lorenzo Mariani, Renzo Giacchieri, Franca Valeri, Giovanni Scandella, Giulio Ciabatti, Francesco Micheli.

Honours and awards

Orazio Tosi Award for Tosca – Regio di Parma (2002)
Giulietta Award for Aida – Arena di Verona (2006)
Gianni Poggi International award for il Trittico – Piacenza (2007)
Special Award Città di Anguillara (2007)
International Award Tiberini D’Oro 2008 (San Lorenzo in Campo)
Matassa d’Oro Award 2009 (Carpi)
Giovanni Zenatello Award 2009 (Verona)
Civetta d’oro Award 2010 to her career (Vizzini)
Marcella Pobbe Award 2010 (Vicenza)
42º Puccini Award (December 2013)
Premio Francesco Cilea 2011 (Reggio Calabria)
Premio Myrta Gabardi 2011 (Milano)
Premio Giuseppe Verdi – Giovanni Zenatello 2013 ( Verona )
Premio Puccini – Torre del lago 2013
Premio Internazionale “Il Parnaso” 2016
Premio Falstaff Busseto  2017
Premio speciale città di Diano Marina 2018
Oscar della lirica 2020
Premio alla carriera Varese ligure 2022
International opera award 2023 – golden Oscar