Free Concert: "Rebirth" starring Benedetta Orsi, mezzosoprano

Photo courtesy of Michael Cross: Benedetta Orsi in concert at the annual St Louis-Bologna Sister Cities Concert

Join Benedetta Orsi, renowned mezzosoprano and Bologna native, for a concert entitled "Rebirth", a musical journey to celebrate the flourishing of life, the growth of feelings, the renewal of existing relationships and the discovery of ourselves. Benedetta Orsi will be featured on stage along with pianist Gail Hintz, violinist Jane Price and flutist Jennifer Gartley.​ The concert is sponsored by Richard and Mary Ann Shaw. Included in classical repertoire will be works by Italian composers Donizetti, Caccini, and Tosti. Admission is free. 

When: Saturday, June 11, 7:30PM
Where: Christ the King Church, 7316 Balson Avenue, St Louis

ABOUT BENEDETTA ORSI

Italian mezzo-soprano Benedetta Orsi has been praised by Teresa Berganza as “perfect voice for belcanto.” She is one of the 2018 nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Opera by St. Louis Theater Circle for her Carmen, reviewed by Broadway Opera World: “Benedetta Orsi has a quite breathtakingly beautiful voice, full and rich, with such easily accessed resources of power. She gives us a simply perfect “Habanera".

Orsi is one of only a few contemporary mezzo-sopranos to have performed all three of Donizetti's Tudor Operas: Jane Seymour in Anna Bolena, Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda and Sara in Roberto Devereux with Royal Opera Theater in Manchester, UK. Recent performances also include Adalgisa in Norma with Winter Opera St. Louis, the title role of Carmen with Winter Opera St. Louis, Boulder Symphony Orchestra in Colorado, and Amore Opera in New York, Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera with the Miami Lyric Opera, and Maddalena in Rigoletto with Amore Opera in New York.

Her first album Christmas Around the World won the Silver Medal at the Global Music Awards in Los Angeles as Best Album and Best Female Vocalist. Her new album La Voix de l’amour, a collection of French operatic arias and art songs, will be released this Winter for the International label Limen Music. Along with concert appearances at Carnegie Hall in NYC and throughout Italy, England, United States and Spain, Orsi’s performance credits include roles in Verdi's Rigoletto, Trovatore, Bellini's Norma, La Sonnambula, and Romeo and Juliet, Rossini's L’Italiana in Algeri and Il Turco in Italia and Massenet's Werther.

Benedetta is a first prize winner of the Barry Alexander International Voice Competition (IVC), First Prize and Star Performer Award in the American Protégé IVC; Third Prize Winner of the Roschel IVC, and Audience & Orchestra Award in the Boulder Music Institute IVC. In her homeland, she received the Audience Award and Special Prize of the Italian Music Federation during the 28th International Piero Boni International Singing Competition.

Orsi received her bachelor degree in Music and Voice from Modena’s Istituto Musicale Pareggiato Orazio Vecchi, pairing her studies with numerous master classes and stage workshops taught by opera luminaries such as Marilyn Horne, Luciana Serra, Teresa Berganza, and stage director Chuck Hudson. Later, she received her Master in Voice at the Regia Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna.

Benedetta Orsi is a board member of the St Louis - Bologna Sister Cities and lives with her husband composer Darwin Aquino and their son Riccardo in St Louis.