Raquel Pierotti (born December 17, 1952,

Montevideo, Uruguay Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern c ...

) is a mezzo-soprano

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

singer. She specialized in coloratura roles in the Rossini and Handel repertoire.

Biography

Raquel Pierotti was born in Montevideo,

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

where she got her graduation at the National Opera School and made her operatic debut in 1973 as Damigella nuziale in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro. During the next six years she worked in many operatic productions singing

Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inc ...

, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly,

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had co ...

as well as in many chamber and symphonic concerts. She won the First Prize in the " Maurice Ravel National Contest" and in the "Artigas - Washington Contest". In 1979 she moved to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. She won the "

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French ...

Award" in 1979 and the 2º Grand Prix in 1980 both in the "Francisco Viñas Singing Competition". In the same year she won the First Prize in the "Mozart Singing Competition" organized by

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

's Mozarteum and the Gold Medal from

Radio Nacional de España Radio Nacional de España (acronym RNE, branded rne, "National Radio of Spain") is the national state-owned public service radio broadcaster in Spain. RNE is the radio division and Televisión Española (TVE) is the television division of R ...

(Spanish National Broadcasting) given to the most promising debutant of the season. In 1980 made her operatic début in

at the Gran Teatro del Liceo in

as Lola in Mascagni's

Cavalleria Rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play ...

. The following year she made her European débuts at the Opera de Paris as Rosina in Rossini's

Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based ...

, as well as at La Scala, Milan, as Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Since then she has been a frequent guest at La Scala where she sang Clarice in La pietra del paragone (Rossini), Smeton in Anna Bolena (Donizetti), Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), Isabella in L'italiana in Algeri (Rossini), Maddalena in Il viaggio a Reims (Rossini), Cecilio in Lucio Silla (Mozart), and Fenena in Nabucco (Verdi) for the 1986/1987 Season Opening Night as well as in the tournées in Berlin, Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama) and Bulgaria (Sofia, Varna). On November 2. 1988 she was invited to sing in a concert celebrating the birthday of Her Majesty the Queen of Spain Doña Sofía. She has worked with renowned conductors as

Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale ...

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Riccardo Chailly, Julius Rudel,

John Eliot Gardiner Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Life and career Born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset, son of Rolf Gardiner and Marabel Hodgkin, Ga ...

, Jesús López Cobos, Sir John Pritchard, Alain Lombard, Lorin Maazel... and directors as Giorgio Strehler, Jean Pierre Ponnelle, Eduardo De Filippo, Patrice Chéreau, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Roberto de Simone, Luca Ronconi, Lluis Pasqual, Jérôme Savary, Beni Montresor, Gabriele Lavia, Jorge Lavelli, José Carlos Plaza... She has appeared at most of the well-known opera houses in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

such as

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

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Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Pesaro,

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

, Palermo and

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among others as well as outside

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Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

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, Stuttgart,

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Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

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, Lisbon,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, Montevideo,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, Caracas,

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

... Among her activities are recitals of Spanish and Latin American music as well as "Zarzuela". She has created the role of "Tatula" from the opera Divinas palabras in the opening season (1997/ 98) at the Teatro Real (Madrid), singing with Plácido Domingo. In 1999 she sang La vida breve in

, Grenoble and La Coruña, and El amor brujo and Siete conciones Populares Españolas in

, Palermo, Montevideo,

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...

, Varsaw, Dortmund and

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

. In 2000 she sang a concert in Hannover, representing

in occasion of the World Fair. In April 2002 and 2004 she sang Babel 46 (Montsalvatge) and L'enfant et le sortilèges (

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

) at the

Teatro Real The Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as ''El Real'', it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts in the ...

(

) and Liceo de

. She sang the role of Mariana (Luisa Fernanda) in Scala di Milano (2003),

(

) (2006) and Theathr an der Wien (

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) (2008) all with Plácido Domingo. In 2004 and 2007 she sang Boris Godunov (Nurse) at Liceo de

and

(

). In August 2009 she sang the leading role of "La casa de Bernanda Alba" (Bernarda), created by the young Spanish composer Miquel Ortega, in Santander Festival and Perelada Festival. In 2005 she has been member of the jury in the prestigious "Francisco Viñas" and " Manuel Ausensi" singing contests.

Roles

During her career she sang : Sextus and Cornelia (Giulio Cesare); Siebel (Faust); Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro); Cecilio (Lucio Silla); Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte); Zerlina (Don Giovanni); Angelina (La Cenerentola); Arsace (Semiramide); Isabella (L'Italiana in Algeri); Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) Andromaca (Ermione); Maddalena (Il viaggio a Reims); Clarice (La pietra del paragone); Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice); Fidalma (Il matrimonio segreto); Leonora (La Favorita); Adalgisa (Norma); Smeton (Anna Bolena); Elisabetta (Maria Stuarda); Carmen (Carmen); Sara (Roberto Devereux); Romeo (Capuleti e Montecchi); Agnese (Beatrice di Tenda); Giulietta (Les contes d'Hoffmann); Salud and la Abuela (La vida breve); Ottavia (L'incoronazione di Poppea); Preziosilla (La forza del destino); Meg and Quickly (Falstaff ); Climene (Saffo); Suzuki (Madama Butterfly); Berenice (Il Farnace); Vagans (Juditha triumphans); Mrs. Slender (Falstaff-Salieri), Cecilia (Las Golondrinas), Zulima (Los amantes de Teruel), Aurora (Doña Francisquita), Señá Rita (La verbena de la Paloma), Mariana (Luisa Fernanda), Nurse (Boris Godunov)...

Symphonic Repertoire

* Rossini: Stabat Mater, Petite Messe Sollennelle, Argene e Melania and Giovanna D'Arco * Haendel: Messiah * Mozart: Coronation Mass and Requiem * Beethoven: Symphony nª 9 * Pablo Casals: El pessebre * Pergolesi: Stabat Mater * Stravinsky: Pulcinella * Bach: Magnificat * Jaume Alaquer: Requiem * Tomás Bretón: Apocalipsis * Verdi: Requiem * Mendelssohn: Paulus * Vivaldi: Juditha Triumphans

Recordings

* Il barbiere di Siviglia - Berta (Riccardo Chailly) * Il viaggio a Reims - Maddalena (Claudio Abbado) * Le comte Ory - Ragonde (John Eliot Gardiner) * Giulio Cesare - Cornelia (Marcello Panni) * The Concert Mozart for Africa with Montserrat Caballé * Doña Francisquita - Aurora with Alfredo Kraus, (Antoni Ros-Marbá) * La verbena de la Paloma - Señá Rita and La Dolores-Gaspara both with Plácido Domingo (Antoni Ros-Marbá) * Viento es la dicha de amor-Amor ( Christophe Coin) * El pessebre (Lawrence Foster); * Il Farnace - Berenice (Massimiliano Carraro) * El llibre vermell (Antoni Ros-Marbá), * Requiem - Jaume Alaquer (Joan Company) * Luisa Fernanda - Mariana (Jesús López Cobos) * Falstaff - Meg (Daniel Oren) * Nabucco - Fenena (Riccardo Muti) * Hommage à Rossini (TV 1985)

Awards

* Maurice Ravel National Contest * Artigas - Washington Contest * Plácido Domigo Award * Francisco Viñas Singing Competition * Mozart Singing Competition, Barcelona's Mozarteum * Gold Medal from Radio Nacional de España * Alas Awards 2010 * Intendencia de Montevideo Homage

References

External links

*
Raquel's Discography at CD Universe

Raquel's Discography at Amazon

Raquel's Discography at Deutsche Grammophon
*
Raquel sings with Placido Domingo
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pierotti, Raquel 1952 births Living people Operatic mezzo-sopranos Singers from Montevideo 20th-century Uruguayan women singers Uruguayan opera singers