Mit Bedauern hörten wir vom Tode des großen italienischen Bass-Buffos Claudio Desderi (Alessandria, 9 April 1943 – Firenze, 30 Juni 2018), der auch deutschen, vor allem Münchner, Operngängern ein bekannter Name ist. Desderi war in vielen Produktionen italienischer Opern von Monteverdi bis in die Neuzeit nicht wegzudenken, war ein immer beliebter Gast bei unendlich vielen Opern-Festivals in der ganzen Welt und sang an allen bedeutenden Opernhäusern, dazu auf zahlreichen Aufnahmen präsent. Nachstehend eine Biographie, wie sie sich bei seiner Agentur Owen White Management findet, Claudio Desderi wird sehr vermisst werden, auch als gesuchter Lehrer – was für ein genialer Schauspieler und Sänger, Dirigent und Lehrer. G. H.
The Italian baritone Claudio Desderi made his debut at the Edinburgh Festival in 1969 in Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino. Since then his career focused primarily on Mozart and Rossini with regular appearances at the festivals of Salzburg, Glyndebourne and Pesaro. At the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, he sang La Cenerentola and l’Italiana in Algeri conducted by Claudio Abbado and directed by J-P Ponnelle, and the Da Ponte trilogy of Mozart conducted by Riccardo Muti and directed by G Strehler. In Paris, Chicago, New York and London he has performed Falstaff, Figaro, Don Alfonso and many other roles of Rossini and Mozart.
His repertoire ranges from Monteverdi to Nono, and he has given recitals of the great Lieder cycles of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms, accompanied by Michele Campanella.
His recordings include Le Nozze di Figaro and Cosi fan tutte under the direction of Bernard
Haitink. His performances on DVD include productions from La Scala, Glyndebourne and Covent Garden of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L’Elisir d’ Amore, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte and the celebrated version of La Cenerentola with Abbado/Ponnelle .
He has conducted production in Italy and abroad for many years. From 1988 to 1990 he instigated the project “Mozart – da Ponte” at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, and from 1993 to 1996 he directed a workshop for young singers on Monteverdi , leading to staged performances of l’Incoronazione di Poppea, Orfeo and Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria. In 1992 he conducted productions of La Scala di Seta and L’Occasione fa il ladro in Montpellier, and in 1993 he was invited to the Aldeburgh Festival to conduct Falstaff and La Pietra di Paragone. In 1994 he conducted and sang Cimarosa’s Il Maestro di Cappella at the Palais Royal in Caserta and in 1995 Il Maestro di Cappella, Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and Menotti’s The Telephone at l’Opéra San Carlo di Napoli.
He was artistic director of the Teatro Verdi di Pisa from 1991 to 1997 where he conducted many productions including Rigoletto, La Traviata, Macbeth, Carmen and Il Signor Bruschino. He also conducted La Scala di Seta in Bilbao, Carmen in Rouen, and Don Giovanni in Marseille. In Verona he conducted a programme devoted to the works of Mozart, and in Pisa Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in a staged version choreographed and produced by Micha van Hoecke. From 1998 to 2003 he was artistic director of the Teatro Regio in Turin, Artistic Advisor of the Festival Verdi à Parme and Artistic Director of Teatro Massimo Palermo.
Until recently Claudio Desderi gave regular master classes at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, Accademia Gruaro Porto di Santa Cecilia Academy and the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. He has also given master classes at the Paris Conservatoire, the University of Music in Gdansk, the Academy of the Aix en Provence Festival, for the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh, the Chicago Lyric Centre, International Festival of Verbier and Voce Nuova in Turin.