Career
After finishing architecture studies, he approached theatre art by realising the costumes for ''Casa di Bambola'' and ''The Threepenny Opera, L'opera da 3 soldi'', two plays directed by Giorgio Strehler at Piccolo Teatro (Milan), Piccolo Teatro in the 1955-56 theatre season. From then on a fertile artistic marriage started between art director and Theatrical producer, producer, setting up several unique productions as ''I giganti della montagna'' (1966), ''Santa Giovanna dei macelli'' (1970), ''King Lear, Re Lear'' (1972), ''Il temporale'' (1980), ''L'Illusion Comique'', which premiered in 1984 at Odéon, Théatre de l'Odéon in Paris, ''La grande magia'', which premiered in 1985 and was reprised several times. The collaboration with Strehler made Frigerio enter the world of opera: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart's ''Le Nozze di Figaro'', ''Don Giovanni'' and ''Così fan tutte'' were realized by Strehler and Frigerio between 1973 and 1996. ''Così fan tutte'' was being staged just before Strehler died. Frigerio also created stage designs for the Burgtheater in Vienna: ''Trilogie der Sommerfrische'' (''Trilogia della villeggiatura'') by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Strehler, 1974; ''Judith (Hebbel), Judith'' by Hebbel, directed by Gerhard Klingenberg, 1975. Other operatic stage designs include: Luigi Cherubini, Cherubini's ''Médée (Cherubini), Medea'', directed by Liliana Cavani, for the Opéra National de Paris; Strauss' ''Elektra (opera), Elektra'', directed by Nuria Espert, for La Monnaie, De Munt Theatre in Brussels; Giuseppe Verdi, Verdi's ''Ernani'', directed by Luca Ronconi, 1980, Ludwig van Beethoven, Beethoven's ''Fidelio'', directed by Werner Herzog in 1999 for the Teatro alla Scala in Milan; Vincenzo Bellini, Bellini's ''Norma (opera), Norma'', directed by Piero Faggioni, for the Vienna State Opera in 1977; Giuseppe Verdi, Verdi's ''Rigoletto'', for the Polish National Opera in 1997. The team of Frigerio and Squarciapiano also designed the Met Opera's gorgeous and sensational Zandonai FRANCESCA DA RIMINI in 1984 (Scotto, Domingo, MacNeil, Levine). Frigerio also created the sets for Liliana Cavani's movie ''Galileo e i Cannibali'' and Jean-Paul Rappeneau's ''Cyrano de Bergerac (1990 film), Cyrano de Bergerac'', which got an Academy Awards, Oscar nomination in 1991. He designed the grave of Rudolf Nureyev. Frigerio often collaborated with Italian costume designer Franca Squarciapino who was also his life partner.Death
Frigerio died on 2 February 2022, at the age of 91.References
Notes
*Henderson, Marina (1992), 'Frigerio, Ezio' in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', ed. Stanley Sadie (London) *