William Matteuzzi

Matteuzzi was born in Bologna on December 12, 1957. He studied voice in his youth but his first serious training came with famed tenor Paride Venturi in Bologna. Further studies were with Rodolfo Celletti. 1979 was a pivotal year for the young tenor: Matteuzzi won two important competitions in Italy, the E.N.A.L. and A.S.L.I.C.O. But his 1980 victory in the Enrico Caruso Competition was a watershed event that launched his international career, a career that would involve about 100 different roles and extend to almost all the world's major opera houses. Matteuzzi debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1988 singing Count Almaviva in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. By the early '90s, he was a bankable operatic star, able to make a hit with recordings containing otherwise dubious repertory, as evidenced by the 1995 album Tosti -- Rare Songs on the Dynamic Italy label. In the new century Matteuzzi curtailed his performance schedule in favor of teaching: he regularly taught master classes in Japan, German, Italy, and other parts of Europe. Among his later recordings is the 2007 reissue of Bellini's I Puritani, with Richard Bonynge conducting, on the Nuova Era label.