Vincenzo la Scola

Tenor

In most recent seasons Vincenzo La Scola was Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Arena of Verona, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and in Zurich; made his debut as Radames in Aida under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt; was Rodolfo in La Bohème both in Washington, D.C. and in Tel Aviv with Giuseppe Sinopoli, at the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago opposite Mirella Freni and under the baton of Bruno Bartoletti, at the Metropolitan Opera of New York; sang Verdi’s Messa daRequiem in Paris with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic, with the Teatro Comunale of Florence on tour in China and in Jerusalem with Riccardo Muti, and in Naples, Parma and Turin. He has also been recently heard in L’elisir d’amore at La Scala, in Chicago and in Zurich; La Bohème and Simon Boccanegra at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich; Ernani in Palermo, Vienna and Zurich; sang in Werther, Les contes d’Hoffmann, LaBohème and Luisa Miller in Palermo; I due Foscari and Don Carlo in Naples, and was in Bologna, Ferrara, Florence (with Claudio Abbado), Paris and Turin for Simon Boccanegra. He just returned to the Lyric Opera in Chicago for Cavalleria rusticana, making his debut in the role of Turiddu. At the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino he has recently appeared in Madama Butterfly, in Parma, at the Teatro Regio, as Oronte in I Lombardi alla prima Crociata, and in Piacenza, with the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, he sang as Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera. The President of the Italian Republic invited him to participate as Special Guest at the traditional New Year Concert in Rome. He wrote and interpreted a new show called "Dedicated to Mario Lanza".  

In 1991 he was invited by Giancarlo Menotti to the Spoleto Festival for Verdi’s Messa da Requiem which he performed under the baton of Daniele Gatti, followed in the season by a recording of and his U.S. debut at the San Francisco Opera in I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Other U.S. credits include the title role in Les contes d’Hoffmann in Houston and Verdi’s Messa daRequiem in with the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta. Vincenzo La Scola made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in LaBohème returning to that stage as the Duke in Rigoletto in 1995.

In 1988 Mr. La Scola made debuts at the Teatro alla Scala as Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore with Giuseppe Patanè and at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna with Mascagni’s Le maschere which was recorded by Ricordi. He has since returned to Bologna with Giovanna d’Arco in a new production by Werner Herzog, conducted by Riccardo Chailly and recorded on video by Teldec, and in La Bohème, Un ballo in maschera, La traviata, Rigoletto, Roberto Devereux, Don Carlo and I Lombardi. He was invited by Riccardo Muti to Seville for the Expo 1992 and for a tour in Japan and the Soviet Union with Teatro alla Scala where he performed I Capuleti e I Montecchi and the Verdi Requiem.

His discography includes Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle for Erato, Ernani for Nuova Era, Rigoletto and Norma with Riccardo Muti for EMI, Beatrice di tenda for Sony under the baton of Alberto Zedda for Sony, Mascagni’s Le maschere for for Ricordi with Gianluigi Gelmetti, Mefistofele on the Bmg label with Riccardo Muti, L’elisir d’amore for Naxos. He also took part in some concerts recorded live opposite Luciana Serra and Ruggero Raimondi (Bongiovanni) and in Battiato’s Genesi (with the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Emilia Romagna “A.Toscanini”) recorded by Ricordi.

Vincenzo La Scola was born in Palermo. He studied with Arrigo Pola and Carlo Bergonzi. He won the «A. Ziliani» contest of the International Competition for Verdian Voices in Busseto and made his professional debut in 1983 in Parma singing the role of Ernesto in Don Pasquale.