Federico Sacchi

Bass-baritone Federico Sacchi often appears on operatic stages around his native Italy and beyond, as far afield as Japan. He has a large repertory of operatic works, mostly Italian, as well as several well-known choral pieces. Sacchi was born in the late 1970s in the Lake Maggiore area in northern Italy. He earned dual university degrees, in piano at the Cantelli Conservatory in Novara, and in law at the University of Milan. Veteran tenor Ottavio Garaventa heard him sing and encouraged him to study voice. Sacchi also took master classes with various prestigious singers, including soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. While still a voice student, at age 23, Sacchi made his debut in the title role of Massenet's Don Quichotte in 2000, in a touring production of the As.Li.Co. opera company. He went on to spend the 2002-2003 season at the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera House, and to take summer courses at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel. He found many roles during this period, including one in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims at the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro, where he took further courses. In 2004, Sacchi performed under conductor Lorin Maazel, as Doctor Grenville in Verdi's La traviata, at the reopening of the La Fenice opera house in Venice, destroyed by an arson fire eight years before. He has continued to appear at top Italian and European houses including the Teatro San Carlo in Naples (as Oroe in Rossini's Semiramide) and the National Theater in Brno, Czech Republic (as King Filippo in Verdi's Don Carlo), as well as making several return visits to La Fenice in various roles. Sacchi has a large repertory of 19th century Italian operatic roles and also performs choral music frequently, including Bach cantatas and, on multiple occasions, the finale of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125. In 2020, he sang the roles of Caronte and Plutone in Monteverdi's Orfeo in a new production at the Musikfestspiele Potsdam in Germany. That year, Sacchi was heard in the role of Polidoro, King of Lesbos, in a live Naxos recording of Rossini's rarely heard opera Zelmira.
© James Manheim /TiVo