Opera Ballet

Agostina Smimmero is regarded as one of the most distinctive Italian mezzo-sopranos of her generation. She attracted international operatic attention through the exceptional power, dark timbre and remarkable range of her voice, often described by critics as a rare combination of mezzo-soprano and contralto. Her singing is distinguished by noble phrasing, outstanding musicality and exceptional interpretative depth, qualities that have brought her to some of the leading opera stages in Italy and abroad.

At the age of seventeen, she was admitted as the top candidate to the Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella in Naples, where she graduated with honours in opera singing. She made her operatic debut at a very young age and quickly became a regular guest of prestigious opera and symphonic institutions. She has received numerous awards at international vocal competitions, including the First Absolute Prize at the prestigious Montserrat Caballé International Competition in 2012, becoming the first Italian singer in the history of the competition to receive this distinction.

Her artistic career encompasses many of the major mezzo-soprano and contralto roles of the Verdi and verismo repertoire. Particularly acclaimed are her interpretations of Azucena in Verdi’s Il trovatore, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, La Cieca in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, Mamma Lucia in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, Fenena in Nabucco, Mrs. Quickly in Falstaff, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, and Maddalena and Giovanna in Rigoletto.

She has appeared in many renowned opera houses, including the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro di San Carlo, the Arena di Verona, Teatro Carlo Felice, Teatro Massimo, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, the Royal Opera House Muscat, as well as opera theatres in Madrid, Toulouse, Cologne, Parma, Cagliari, Bologna and other major European cultural centres.

She has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Donato Renzetti, Marco Armiliato, Pinchas Steinberg, Daniel Oren, Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Francesco Ivan Ciampa, Jan Latham-Koenig, Ramón Tébar, Juraj Valčuha and Fabio Mastrangelo, as well as with stage directors including Franco Zeffirelli, Emma Dante, Leo Nucci, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Paul Curran and Antonio Albanese.

Concert performances also form an important part of her artistic activity. She has performed alongside world-renowned artists such as Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Andrea Bocelli and Ambrogio Maestri, appearing in numerous gala concerts and symphonic projects throughout Europe, the United States and the Middle East. She is also frequently involved in contemporary music projects and television productions for the Italian broadcaster Rai.