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The Italian bass, Frederico Davia, got his training by Piero Magenta and Tristano Illersberg in Genoa, after he had been active as painters first.
Frederico Davia made his debut in 1959 with a touring opera stage in Italy as Colline in Puccini’s Bohème. He also participated in 1960 in Florence in the premiere of the opera Una notte in Paradiso by Valentino Bucchi. In the future he acquired by his performances at the big Italian opera houses an important call to sing at the Milan’s La Scala (debut 1962 in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi), at the opera houses of Genoa, Florence, Palermo, Naples, Parma, Bologna, Triest, Turin and Venice. Abroad he made guest appearances in Brussels, Copenhagen, Oslo, Lisbon, to San Francisco Opera, at the operas of Bordeaux and Rouen and at the Festivals of Glyndebourne, Florence (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino) and Drottningholm. In Glyndebourne he sang in 1970 in the premiere of the Baroque opera La Calisto by Cavalli, already in 1965 Count Robinson in Cimarosa’s Matrimonio segreto and Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, in 1980 in La Bohème and still in 1988 as Pistol in Falstaff by Verdi. In 1968 he could be heard at the Teatro San Carlo Naples in the premiere of Nino Rota’s Lampada di Aladino, in 1975 at La Scala in the premiere of Al gran brine carico d'amore by Luigi Nono, in 1970 likewise at La Scala in the premiere of Luigi Dallapiccola’s Ulisse. At the Festival of Edinburgh he appeared as a guest in 1980 in L'Amour trois of the oranges by Prokofiev, at the Covent Garden Opera London in 1988 as Figaro in Nozze di Figaro. At the Salzburg Festival he appeared in 1981-1982 as Pistol in Verdi’s Falstaff, in 1986-1988 as Antonio in Nozze di Figaro. He appeared as a guest at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (debut in 1989 as Talpa in Puccini’s Il Tabarro, in 1990-1991 as Antonio in Nozze di Figaro), at opera houses in Washington and Mexico City. He participated also in opera performances of the Italian television.
Frederico Davia became a late director of the I Commedianti Opera company, a touring opera, led the Italian Opera Academy London and produced operas in Geneva, Tel Aviv, Avignon and at the Brighton Festival. He was an also artistic director for opera films in the French television. He mastered an extensive repertoire for bass-bariton with roles from all ranges of the opera literature on the stage, not least also in modern works.
Recordings: Argo, Curci, RCA, Decca (L'Ormindo and La Calisto by Cavalli), Mixtur (Euridice by Jacopo Peri), Acanta (La Cenerentola). |
