Biography
Cesare Scarton graduated in Opera and Theatre Directing from the “Santa Cecilia”
Conservatory of Music in Rome and obtained a degree in Arts, Music, and Entertainment
Disciplines from the University of Bologna.
He has been part of the artistic direction of several international music, dance, and
theatre events, including the Sagra Musicale Umbra, the Panatenee (Pompei, Agrigento,
Capri), the Fondazione Rossini in Pesaro, and the Verdi Festival in Parma. Since 2012, he
has been the artistic director of the Fondazione Flavio Vespasiano, which has been
organizing the Reate Festival in Rome and Rieti since 2009.
At the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, he served as a teacher and coordinator
of the artistic activities of Santa Cecilia Opera Studio from 2004 to 2015, a high-level training
project in opera singing with Renata Scotto.
An expert in singing and voice performance, he has also dedicated himself to
melodrama, contributing to its appreciation and rediscovery through concerts, conferences,
seminars, radio broadcasts and performances with actresses such as Sonia Bergamasco and
Milena Vukotić.
For the famous Italian actress Anna Proclemer, he wrote and staged the monologue
Anna dei Pianoforti by Alberto Savinio, performed in various cities including Rome (Teatro
Argentina), Milan (Piccolo Teatro), Florence (Teatro della Pergola, Maggio Musicale
Fiorentino), Palermo (Teatro Biondo), Bellinzona (Teatro Sociale), and at Italian cultural
institutes in Munich and London, and was broadcasted by Radio Tre and the Swiss Italian
Radio.
He collaborates as the responsible for the Italian language with the Bayerische
Staatsoper and the Teatro Real in Madrid, participating in prestigious productions with
conductors such as Kent Nagano, Ivor Bolton, Kirill Petrenko, Omer Meir Wellber, Zubin
Mehta, Michele Mariotti, and René Jacobs. He has held the same position with important
record labels such as Deutsche Grammophon (CD Verismo, with Anna Netrebko and the
Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Antonio Pappano) and
Sony (CD Mozart Arias, with Christian Gerhaher and Freiburger Barockorchester).
He has given lectures at several important institutions, including the Teatro
dell’Opera di Roma Foundation, the University of Rome and L’Aquila, the Fondazione
Rossini in Pesaro, the Teatro Tascabile in Bergamo, the Bari and Trento Conservatories of
Music, and masterclasses at the Universities of Graz (Austria), Varna and Sofia (Bulgaria),
Vilnius (Lithuania), Riga (Latvia), Tallinn (Estonia), Kiev (Ukraine), and Budapest
(Hungary).
For the Italian Ministry of Culture, he recorded a four-part video on the direction in
Giuseppe Verdi’s musical theatre, available on the Ministry’s portal dedicated to the
composer.
At the Fondazione Rossini in Pesaro, he is a member of the Scientific Committee and
director of the collections “Iconografia Rossiniana”, “I libretti di Rossini”, “Saggi e Fonti”.
He taught alongside Vivica Genaux at the Teatro de la Sena in Feltre (Belluno) for the V/Vox
Academy Feltre project. He was a teacher of Scenic Art and Italian Diction at the Opera
Laboratory of the Tor Vergata University in Rome alongside Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz. He
also taught the same discipline at the Academy Belcanto Opera Studio in Levico Terme and
at the Roma Opera Campus.
He collaborates with the Fondazione Alberto Sordi per i Giovani for the realization of
concert events at the Teatro della Villa di Alberto Sordi.
He taught History of Opera and Stage Direction of Musical Theatre at the University
of L’Aquila from 1998 to 2010. He is a professor of Theory and Technique of Stage
Interpretation at the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory of Music in Rome.
2
In his activity as a director of musical theatre, he has curated productions such as
Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto, Rota’s Lo scoiattolo in gamba, Mozart’s Così fan tutte,
Janáček’s The cunning little vixen, Ravel’s L’heure espagnole, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi,
Cimarosa’s L’impresario in angustie (producted and realized by the Accademia Nazionale
di Santa Cecilia, Parco della Musica, Rome and recorded on DVD by Infocamere), Carlo
Disio by various authors (Lisbona, Culturgest, world première) Mozart’s Il re pastore and
Paisiello’s Nina ossia La pazza per amore (Festival Le notti di Villa Mondragone, Teatro
delle Acque), Donizetti’s Il campanello, Rossini’s Adina, Verdi’s Un giorno di regno (project
financed by the National Committee for the bicentennial of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth, recorded
by Tactus (Reate Festival, Teatro Flavio Vespasiano, Rieti), Pergolesi’s La serva padrona
(Roma, Vilnius, Riga Tallin, Kiev, Budapest), Vacca’s Otto von Kitsch and Boccadoro’s
Boletus (Opera In Canto, Terni, world première), Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Rossini’s
L’italiana in Algeri (Teatro Marrucino, Chieti), Puccini’s Suor Angelica (Teatro Rendano,
Cosenza), Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Teatro Brancaccio, Rome), Krása’s Brundibár and
Britten’s The little sweep (Teatro dell’Opera, Rome), Orlandini’s Serpilla e Bacocco (Festival
MusicAntica, Sacile; Tartini Festival, Slovenia; Festival Vicenza in Lirica), Sarro’s
L’impresario delle Canarie (Festival MusicAntica, Sacile, Trieste, Radovljica), Selitti’s La
vedova ingegnosa (Festival MusicAntica, Gorizia), Salieri’s Prima la musica e poi le parole
and Piccinni’s La buona figliola (Auditorium Ennio Morricone, Tor Vergata University,
Rome), Panni’s Il giudizio di Paride and Hanjo (Associazione Nuova Consonanza, world
première recorded on DVD by Ema Vinci Records and broadcasted by Sky Classica), the
diptych Donna, serva della mia casa consisting of Scarlato’s Fadwa and Carnini’s La stanza
di Lena (Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Teatro Olimpico, Rome, world première
performances), Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea and Orfeo (“Santa Cecilia”
Conservatory of Music, Rome), a diptych with Monteverdi’s Ballo delle ingrate and
Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza), Scarlatti’s I prodigiosi
effetti di madre natura (“Licinio Refice” Conservatory of Musc, Latina, first performance in
modern times), among others. He has also staged Donizetti’s Anna Bolena with Fabio Biondi
and Europa Galante (recoded on DVD by Dynamic and broadcasted by Sky Classica),
Paisiello’s Il barbiere di siviglia (Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena), Cappelletto and
Carnini’s Un’infinita primavera attendo (Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Teatro
Palladium, Rome, world première, recorded on DVD by the Istituto dell’Enciclopedia
Italiana Treccani), Krüs’ Anna e Zef (Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in co-prodcution
with the Nederlands Philhamonisch for the European project Music Up Close Network;
Parco della Musica, Sala Petrassi, Rome, Italian première). He directed a diptych consisting
of I due timidi and La notte di un nevrastenico by Nino Rota (Reate Festival, Teatro Flavio
Vespasiano, Rieti; recorded on DVD by Dynamic); Combattimenti, consisting of Battistelli’s
Orazi e Curiazi, Monteverdi’s Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and Ambrosini’s
Tancredi appresso il combattimento (world première) (Associazione Nuova Consonanza,
Teatro Palladium, Rome); Trittico del Novecento italiano, consisting of Rota’s La scuola di
guida, Menotti’s The Telephone, or l’Amour à trois and Dall’Ongaro’s Bach Haus (Reate
Festival, Rieti; recorded on DVD by Ema Vinci Records and broadcasted by Rai Cinque).
Also noteworthy are his productions of Polidoro by Lotti (first performance in
modern times, Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza), Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria by Monteverdi,
(Teatro di Villa Torlonia, first performance in Rome) and L’empio punito by Melani (Teatro
di Villa Torlonia, Rome; first Italian reprise in modern times, recorded on dvd by Dynamic).
He staged also La cambiale di matrimonio by Rossini for RossiniLab Project in
collaboration with Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
and Fondazione Rossini (Teatro di Villa Torlonia, Rome). He directed The medium by
Menotti in Rome, Rieti, Trapani (Ente Luglio Musicale Trapanese) and Savona (Teatro
dell’Opera Giocosa); L’ultima estate by Filotei (word première; Special Project of the Italian
3
Ministry of Culture 2021) performed in Rieti, Teatro Flavio Vespasiano; Foligno,
Auditorium San Domenico; Fermo, Teatro dell’Aquila; L’Aquila, Auditorium del Parco).
His productions of Jakob Lenz by Rihm for Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago and the
reprise of Le astuzie femminili by Cimarosa, conducted by Alessandro De Marchi (Teatro di
Villa Torlonia, first performance in Rome, recorded on DVD by Dynamic) have received
excellent critical acclaim. Last year he achieved great success with Drammi notturni by
Monteverdi and Donizetti, staged in Siena for the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Mozart’s
Così fan tutte (Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza), Barbieri and De Rossi Re’s Magic Circles (world
première; Special Project of the Italian Ministry of Culture 2023) with the renowned Italian
actor Vinicio Marchioni in the lead role; Händel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in Gorizia and
Trieste for the project Barocco Europeo; Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis (first
performance in Rome, in collaboration with Teatro dell’Opera di Roma).
He conceived the dramaturgy of La traviata between Verdi and Dumas, narrated by
Renata Scotto and read by Milena Vukotić (Parco della Musica, Rome); Čajkovskij e
Madame von Meck with Sonia Bergamasco and Giulio Scarpati (Vatican Museums, Vatican
City); Gala Beethoven with Tommaso Ragno (Parco della Musica, Rome), and the mise en
scene of La Roma di Tosca (Palazzo Farnese, Rome), all productions realized with the
Soloist of the Orchestra and Choir of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted
by Antonio Pappano.
Among his publications are Il melologo: una ricerca tra recitazione e musica, Città
di Castello, Edimond, 1998, with an introduction by Giovanni Carli Ballola; Verdi e
l’Ottocento europeo, Parma, Comitato Nazionale per le Celebrazioni Verdiane, 1999-2000;
Verdi Festival 2001 Parma. Un anno di spettacoli, Parma Grafiche STEP, 2001; Otello. Un
percorso iconografico da Shakespeare a Rossini, Pesaro; Aureliano in Palmira, “I libretti
di Rossini”, Pesaro, Fondazione Rossini, 2020.
