Daniela Dessì was born in Genoa and completed her singing studies at the Conservatory of Parma and the Accademia Chigiana of Siena. After having won the first prize at the International Competition organized by Rai in 1980, she had her debut with the Comic Opera La serva padrona by Pergolesi. She has constructed a repertoire of about 60 titles from Monteverdi to Prokofiev, which goes from the Baroque to her extraordinary interpretation of heroines from Mozart and Verdi. Now she is considered today the best interpreter of the "Verismo" repertoire.

Her international career has taken her to the best Opera theatres, singing under the direction of the greatest orchestra conductors: the Teatro alla Scala of Milan with Riccardo Muti (Don Carlos, Falstaff, Requiem, Così fan tutte and Nozze di Figaro) and in other important productions (Adriana Lecouvreur and Madama Butterfly); The Staatsoper of Vienna with Claudio Abbado (Simon Boccanegra and Don Carlos); The Metropolitan of New York with James Levine (Pagliacci and Madama Butterfly); Berlin Deutsche Oper and at Dresden with Giuseppe Sinopoli (Aida, Requiem); Bologna with Daniele Gatti (Tosca, Aida, Falstaff and Don Carlos); at the Bayerische Staatsoper of Munich and in Parma with Zubin Mehta (Falstaff, Requiem, Tosca and Don Giovanni); in Philadelphia again with Muti (Pagliacci); at the Opera of Rome with Gianluigi Gelmetti (Iris, Il Trittico); at the Festival Rossini of Pesaro again with Gelmetti (Guglielmo Tell); at the Arena of Verona with Georges Prêtre and Zubin Mehta in Requiem by Verdi and in other productions amongst which are Otello, Aida, Tosca and Madama Butterfly; at Zurich with Bruno Bartoletti (La cena delle beffe, Luisa Miller, Pagliacci) and Nicolas Harnoncourt (Aida); in Tokyo with James Levine (Pagliacci), Daniele Gatti (Don Carlos) and Gustav Kuhn (La Traviata, La Bohème); again with Bartoletti in Mefistofele at the Comunale in Florence and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

She had great success with her interpretation of Madama Butterfly in 2001 when she was the first Western performer in Nagasaki, Tokyo and Kobe during the tour organized in co-operation with the “Festival Puccini” of Torre del Lago. For her prestigious artistic career, Daniela Dessì has been given important awards by the major Musical Associations amongst which are the “Zenatello-Arena di Verona” Prize, the “Giordano” prize by the Municipality of Baveno and the “Puccini” prize by the Municipality of Torre del Lago in 2000. She received the “Cilea” prize at Reggio Calabria, the “Gigli d’Oro” from the Municipality of Recanati, the “Liguria” prize by the Municipality of Genova and the “E. Mazzoleni” prize at Palermo in 2002.

Her debut at Teatro Regio di Parma was in season 88/89 with Don Giovanni, coming back regularly in operas like Falstaff, Don Carlo, Simon Boccanegra, Verdi-Requiem, the concerto Verdi100, and last season Aida and Manon Lescaut.

In 2006 she sang Manon Lescaut in Berlino, Tosca and Don Carlo in Vienna, she returned to La Scala in a triumphal Tosca conducted by Lorin Mazel with Fabio Armiliato and after she performed Il Trovatore in a japan Tour with Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Madama Butterfly in Arena di Verona and Tosca  in Tokyo, Otzu and Seoul in the 1900 original production by Teatro dell'Opera di Roma: a success that was acclaimed by international critics as "outstanding" and was cheered by audience with and "endless 45 minuts of enthusistic applause" (ANSA News) ! Season 2006-2007 started with a great Manon Lescaut in Barcelona directed by Liliana Cavani and conducted by Renato Palumbo, then Manon Lescaut also in Wien and her return to La Scala with Adriana Lecouvreur cheered by audience and critics with an outstanding triumph. 

Her last recording wich has just been released on PHILIPS Label, distributed by Universal Group is a stunning CD named “Love Duets” performed with Tenor Fabio Armiliato and Württembergische Philharmonie, conducted by Marco Boemi.

For more discography, photos and more infos please visit: www.danieladessi.com