Meeting with Ruggero Raimondi at the Real Maestranza (Wednesday, July 3rd, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.)

It is absurd and pretentious to prepare a curriculum vitae for Ruggero Raimondi for the XX Music-Philosophy Encounter to be held in Ronda. It is enough to say that he is and has been the most important figure in bel canto in the last half century within his vocal spectrum. In addition to his natural vocal gifts, he is recognized for his enormous versatility and technical wisdom, which have allowed him to embody the ideal of more than one classic character in musical drama. It is an honor for us to be able to establish a dialogue with someone who represents in its fullest splendor that fascinating and revealing activity of the human condition that is singing. In that dialogue, we will share and learn many things about that primordial activity, and therefore, about the human being.

Ruggero Raimondi (Bologna, October 3, 1941)

He is the bass singer who has made the most recordings and one of the singers with the most performances to his credit. With over forty-five years of illustrious career, Ruggero Raimondi is considered the best bass-baritone of the last quarter of the 20th century, and his voice is already legendary. Raimondi holds the record for the most recordings in the history of the recording industry.

Some recordings

Boito: Mefistofele | Deutsche Grammophon | 1988
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro | Decca | 2003
Puccini: Turandot | Deutsche Grammophon | 1990
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia | Deutsche Grammophon | 1993
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (with bonus DVD) DVD | Decca | 2005
Rossini: Il viaggio a Reims | Deutsche Grammophon | 1990
Rossini: La Cenerentola | Decca | 2003
Rossini: L’italiana in Algeri | Deutsche Grammophon | 1989
Salieri: Axur, rey de Ormuz | Deutsche Grammophon | 1986
Verdi: Aida | Deutsche Grammophon | 1983
Verdi: Aida | Deutsche Grammophon | 2005
Verdi: Attila | Philips | 2005
Verdi: Don Carlos | Deutsche Grammophon | 1990
Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera | Deutsche Grammophon | 1998

Television

2010: Rigoletto in Mantova, directed by Marco Bellocchio
2006: Falstaff, directed by Paola Longobardo
2006: Tosca, directed by Loreena Kaufmann
2006: Don Pasquale, directed by Felix Breisach
2005: Il barbiere di Siviglia, directed by Ángel Luis Ramírez
2005: Così fan tutte, directed by Stéphane Metge
2005: Così fan tutte, directed by Patrice Chéreau
2001: Il turco in Italia with Cecilia Bartoli at the Zurich Opera House
1994: The Abduction from the Seraglio
1992: Tosca: In the Settings and at the Times of Tosca, directed by Brian Large (with Malfitano and Domingo)
1992: Le nozze di Figaro, directed by Brian Large
1991: José Carreras and Friends: Opera Recital
1983: Ernani, directed by Kirk Browning (with Milnes and Pavarotti)
1982: Verdi’s Requiem
1981: Six personnages en quête d’un chanteur by Maurice Bejart
1980: Boris Godunov, directed by Joseph Losey at the Paris Opera House

Filmography

2019: Beaux-parents, directed by Héctor Cabello Reyes (2019)
2006: Murder in the Cathedral, directed by Tiziano Mancini
2001: Tosca by Benoît Jacquot, with Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna
1997: The Colors of the Devil, by Alain Jessua
1989: Boris Godunov by Andrzej Żuławski
1984: Carmen by Francesco Rosi, with Plácido Domingo
1983: Life Is a Bed of Roses, by Alain Resnais
1982: The Trout, by Joseph Losey
1979: Don Giovanni, by Joseph Losey, with José van Dam and Kiri Te Kanawa
1973: Brother Sun, Sister Moon, by Franco Zeffirelli.

He has been awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government. He is also a Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic, Commander in the Order of Cultural Merit of Monaco, Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Cross Pro Merito Melitensi of the Order of Malta, Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera, Honorary Academic of the Academy of Bologna, and Honorary Member of the Bilbao Philharmonic Association.