Raffaele Cortesi

Raffaele Cortesi completed his high school degree with honors at age 18 in Parma, Italy, and then began studying musicology at university level. He perfected his talents with Sergio Perticaroli from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Roberto Capello, Piero Guarino, Jorg Demus, Dalton Baldwin and Bruno Canino.

He has won prizes in numerous competitions and has appeared in renowned concert halls as well as at various festivals including the Auditorium di Milano, the Vienna Hofburg, the Ima Hall in Tokyo, the Teatro Monumental Madrid, the Verdi Festival and the Rossini Festival in Pesaro. He has accompanied singers such as Raina Kabaivanska, Cecilia Gasdia, Nuccia Focile, Giusy Devinu, Foirenza Cadolins, Nicola Ghiuselev, Vincenzo La Scola, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Paolo Coni, Michele Pertusi and Renato Bruson.

Numerous recordings have been made of his voice in cooperation with several radio and television channels including RAI, TSI, ZDF, FRANCE 2 and RADIO ESPANA. In addition, he has recorded Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle together with the Prague Chamber Choir as conducted by Romano Gandolfi and produced a CD with Verdi paraphrases in duet with the clarinetist Corrado Giuffredi.

He has served as a repetiteur in various theaters such as Teatro Carlo Felice in Geneva, Arena di Verona and Communale di Bologna. In addition, he has worked together with the Teatro Regio in Parma, the San Carlo in Naples, the Maestranza in Seville, the Taormina Festival, the Fondazione Toscanini and important international competitions such as NEUE STIMMEN, Giuseppe di Stefano, Maria Callas and Voci Verdiane. For the Festival Verdi in Parma he interpreted the world premiere of Album Piave and Il Corsaro by Giovanni Pacini. He held masterclasses at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien, Tokyo College of Music and Scuola dell`Opera Italiana di Bologna.