Letizia Dei
Discography
2001 Praise Him, Sky ed. Musicali, Coro di San Leonardo, Sarzana & The Florence Gospel Choir, Florence, soloist and choir
2010 CD Festa sancti cenobii episcopi et confessoris musica per San Zanobi nella Firenze del '300, Bongiovanni, Ensemble San Felice, vocal and instrumental ensemble
2018 Seven Sonnet of Michelangelo by B. Britten, L&C di Ema Vinci Records, voice and piano with Chiara Saccone
2014 Lamentarsi come ipotesi, Universal, music and words by Peppe Voltarelli
2018 Cabaret Songs, B. Britten, L&C Ema Vinci Records, voice and piano with Chiara Saccone
2020 Incoronazione di Poppea by C. Monteverdi, opera, Bongiovanni, Ensemble San Felice and Opera Network
2020 Gershwin Songbook by G. Gershwin, L&C EMA Vinci Records, voice and piano with Ettore Papadia
2020 Papadei: If I, You Are the Reason, Look at Me, self-distribution, music and words by Letizia Dei and Michele Papadia
2020 I Will Give My Love An Apple, Folk Songs by B. Britten, L&C EMA Vinci Records, guitar and voice with Rocco Giorgi
2021 The Revivalist: Inni e Spiritual, L&C EMA Vinci Records, voice and piano with Michele Papadia
2024 Forever Changed - The Life of an Artist: Lou Reed, voice Letizia Dei, string quartet Vertere Strings Quartet
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Biography
Born in Florence, she began her musical studies at a very young age as a clarinetist at the Fiesole Music School.
She later turned to operatic singing and graduated from the L. Cherubini Conservatory of Florence.
In the same year, she graduated in Art History, with a focus on historical and artistic studies, from the University of Florence.
She has studied and refined her skills with Bruno Rigacci, Alessandra Althoff Pugliese, Giacomo Prestia, and Susanna Rigacci.
Her formal education is classical, but she has been singing since the age of 4, allowing her to explore various musical genres throughout the different stages of her musical life.
In 2020, she enrolled in the two-year Musicology program at the University of Pavia, Department of Cremona.
Teaching
She has been collaborating since 2004 as a vocal coach in both opera and contemporary singing at the Athenaeum Musicale of Florence.
She has also taught at the Accademia Caruso in Lastra a Signa, Florence, and at the Centro Studi Musica e Arte in Florence.
She has conducted several seminars on vocal technique for various choral groups.
She has been the director and teacher of the Light Gospel Choir for thirteen years.
Masterclass
November 2002: First International Vocal Masterclass, Florence, with Rolando Panerai
Receiving a prestigious scholarship from the "Manfredo Fanfani" Foundation of Florence, she attended advanced courses at the Sommerakademie in Salzburg and three annual courses at the Cà Zenobio Academy of Advanced Musical Training in Treviso.
2004-2005: Advanced Training at the Cà Zenobio Academy, Treviso, with Alessandra Althoff Pugliese
2005-2006: Advanced Training at the Cà Zenobio Academy, Treviso, with Alessandra Althoff Pugliese
2006: Mozart and His Time Atelier della Voce, Verbania, with Alessandra Althoff Pugliese
August 2005: Sommerakademie Mozarteum, Masterclass, Salzburg, with Alessandra Althoff Pugliese
October-December 2005: C.L.O.S. at Città Lirica Opera Studio, Pisa
August 2006: Belcanto and Operatic Repertoire Atelier della Voce, Verbania, with Alessandra Althoff Pugliese
2006-2007: Advanced Training at the Cà Zenobio Academy, Treviso, with Alessandra Althoff Pugliese
August 2008: Belcanto and Operatic Repertoire Atelier della Voce, Verbania, with Simone Alaimo
August 2009: Sommerakademie Mozarteum, Masterclass, Salzburg, with Alessandra Althoff Pugliese
2010: Maggio Fiorentino Training, Academy of High Training of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
2010: Pietro Mascagni and the Musicians of His Time, Cantiere Lirico at the Teatro della Città di Livorno Carlo Goldoni Foundation, with A. Pizzech, L. Kemp, F. Torrigiani, G. Casolla, J. Web
SPIRITUAL AND GOSPEL MUSIC
For over twenty years, she has dedicated herself to the repertoire of spiritual and gospel music. She has collaborated with several European and American conductors, including Bazil Meade, Ramon Escale, Nehemiah Brown, Isaac Cates, and Rosemary Cosby.
For fifteen years, she has been the director of a gospel choir, the Light Gospel Choir, with which she has performed numerous concerts in Florence and Italy, often for charitable purposes. Noteworthy is the 2018 event organized in her hometown, at the Basilica of Ognissanti, in collaboration with MMT Ministries and the Borgognissanti Association for A.T.T., as well as the following year's event for Auser at the Basilica of Santa Croce.
Recently, she formed a female vocal quartet, the RAISE HEARTS GOSPEL PROJECT, alongside singers Lucilla Fossi, Hortencia Teran, and Yrjia Haglund, with pianist Federico Pacini.
Opera
2002 Il Finanziere e il Ciabattino J. Offenbach, Piccolo Teatro del Comunale, Florence
Pinocchio by M. Tutino, Piccolo Teatro del Comunale, Florence
2003 Trois Opéras Minutes D. Miloud, Piccolo Teatro del Comunale, Florence
Il Marinaio by A. Russo, Piccolo Teatro del Comunale, Florence
2005 Le Nozze di Figaro W.A. Mozart, III Geminiani Festival, Castello di Bracciano, Rome; Ex Fonderia Leopolda, Follonica; Castello di Scarlino
2006 I Quattro Rusteghi W. Ferrari, T. Goldoni, Livorno; Teatro Giglio, Lucca; Teatro Verdi, Pisa; Teatro Alighieri, Ravenna
2006 Don Giovanni W.A. Mozart, IV Geminiani Festival, Lucignano; Castello di Scarlino; Abbazia di San Galgano
2007 Così fan tutte W.A. Mozart, V Geminiani Festival, La Porticciola, Suvereto; Teatro delle Ferriere, Follonica; Piazza del Comune, Lucignano; Piazza del Comune, Chiusdino
2007 Sogno di una notte di mezza estate P. Rigacci, International Opera Theater of Philadelphia, Teatro degli Avvaloranti, Città della Pieve; Teatro Macinelli, Orvieto
2008 Gianni Schicchi G. Puccini, Atelier della Voce, Verbania
2008 Carmen G. Bizet, in the role of Mercedes, with the Italian Opera Season performing at the Konzert Theater, Bern
2009 Così fan tutte W.A. Mozart, Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini, Florence
2011 Così fan tutte W.A. Mozart, San Gimignano, Piazza Duomo
2012 Buffalo Soldier C. Pedini, International Opera Theater of Philadelphia, Teatro degli Avvaloranti, Città della Pieve; Teatro Valle Occupato, Rome
2013 Pagliacci R. Leoncavallo, Teatro Odeon, Florence
2020 L'incoronazione di Poppea C. Monteverdi, San Felice Ensemble, OperaNetwork, Teatro Dante, Campi Bisenzio; Teatro Poliziano, Montepulciano
2020 Don Giovanni Mozart-Gazzaniga, San Felice Ensemble and OperaNetwork, Teatro Dante, Campi Bisenzio, Florence; Teatro Poliziano, Montepulciano
Concerti
2006 Recital as soloist Die Zauberflöte W.A. Mozart, Wagner Foundation Chamber Orchestra, La Fenice Casino, Venice
2007 Concert as soloist Stabat Mater G.B. Pergolesi, String Quartet, I Solisti dell'Orchestra Geminiani, Teatro Le Laudi, Florence
2007 Concert as soloist with choir and orchestra Kronungsmesse KV 317 W.A. Mozart, Orchestra Sinflorentia, Church of Montughi, Florence, and “Concerto sul Greto,” Florence
2007 Concert as soloist with orchestra, Gran Galà Lirico Sinfonico, V Geminiani Festival, Suvereto, Fonderia Leopolda, Follonica
2007 Concert as soloist, Concerto di Natale, Exultate Jubilate W.A. Mozart with Orchestra Geminiani, Suvereto, Santo Stefano al Ponte Vecchio, Florence
In November 2009, she was involved in “Note di solidarietà”, a concert dedicated to the FILE foundation, held at the Church of Cestello in Florence, receiving public and critical acclaim. Since then, she has been very active in Florence for charity events, lending both her image and her voice. Exultate Jubilate W.A. Mozart with Orchestra Instabile
2010 Concert as soloist with orchestra Da Cavalleria Rusticana to Bohème, Teatro Goldoni, Livorno
2010 Concert, ensemble, Antivigilia di San Francesco, by Ensemble San Felice, Cathedral of Fiesole
2010 Concert, ensemble, Festa Sancti Cenobii Episcopi et Confessoris, by Ensemble San Felice, Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence
2019 Concert as soloist with ensemble Laudari Francescani and Contrafacta, by Ensemble San Felice and Opera Network, Church of San Francesco, Sarzana; San Miniato al Monte Basilica, Florence
RECITAL AND CHAMBER MUSIC
She frequently performs in recitals with piano or guitar, showcasing operatic repertoire, but she is also specialized in Italian folk music, particularly Neapolitan songs. A selection of classic Neapolitan songs, in collaboration with pianist Anita Azzi, is set to be released soon by Ema Records.
From 2010 to 2013, she performed concerts for Harding University, an American university also based in Florence, in Searcy, Nashville, Dallas (USA), and in Dorset (England), including an operatic recital at the Hardy House Museum, Max Gate.
In 2011, she performed at the Val Tidone Festival 2011, classical music recital with bass Giacomo Prestia, Piazzetta della Chiesa di Nibbiano, Piacenza.
From 2011 to 2016, she collaborated with Italian Opera Florence, performing hundreds of concerts at its venue, the Church of Santa Monaca in Florence.
In 2012, she gave a voice and piano recital Amerigo/America Vespucci at the United States Ex Cappella Demidoff, Florence.
In 2012, she performed a voice and string quartet concert The Juliet Letters by E. Costello at the Auditorium Careggi, Agimus, Florence.
In 2013, she performed a voice and piano recital Lieder...e Mozart sia! and Beethoven und die Lieder for "Ottobre in Musica" at the Deutsches Institut, Florence.
In 2015, she gave a voice and piano concert The Juliet Letters by E. Costello at the Music Pool Events in Sala Vanni, Florence, and Estate Regina in Montecatini.
From 2012 to 2015, she was the president of a cultural association in Florence that developed several musical programs performed in Tuscany and other regions of Italy.
In particular, she organized a tribute to the works of Elvis Costello, The Juliet Letters for string quartet and voice, and Tell Me the Truth About Love, a concert for piano and voice with music by Benjamin Britten, which she performed with pianist Chiara Saccone, with whom she explored the 20th-century classical repertoire.
Cabaret Songs and Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo by Britten are also part of a 2018 recording project released by L&C di Ema Vinci, a label specializing in contemporary classical repertoire.
In 2015, she performed Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo and Cabaret Songs by Britten, voice and piano, at the Museo Casa Buonarroti, Florence, and Sala del Rosso, Florence.
In 2018, she performed at the Rave di Musica Classica by the Orchestra Notturna Clandestina at the Auditorium Santa Croce, Rome.
In 2019, she performed at the Istituto Musicale di Rivoli, Torino, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, and Estate Fiorentina in Florence.
In 2017, she performed with the ensemble The Fireband of Florence, featuring the music of K. Weil and G. Gershwin, at the Teatro Everest, Florence.
In 2018, she gave a concert of vocal chamber music for Giorno della Memoria, performing German Lieder, at the Paolo Grassi Foundation in Martina Franca, Taranto.
