Carlo Colombara

Carlo Colombara (born 1964 in Bologna, Italy) is an Italian operatic bass. He has sung leading roles in many major opera houses including Teatro alla Scala (Milan, Italy); the Vienna State Opera (Vienna, Austria); the Real Teatro di San Carlo (Naples, Italy); the Arena di Verona (Verona, Italy); the Royal Opera House (London, United Kingdom), and The Metropolitan Opera (New York City).

Colombara began his training at age twelve with piano lessons and began singing from age fifteen, studying with Paride Venturi in Bologna. In 1986 he won the prize for the best Italian singer in the G.B. Viotti competition and the following year he won the As.Li.Co. competition in Milan.

He then made his professional début as Silva in Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (Rome, Italy). With Zubin Mehta conducting, he performed in an open-air production of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot in the Forbidden City, (Beijing, China), which was recorded and broadcast worldwide.

He has sung in the most important theaters in the world: Wiener Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera of New York City, Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, Opéra Bastille in Paris, Covent Garden in London, Arena di Verona, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and many others.

He collaborated with many important conductors: Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Colin Davis, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Carlo Maria Giulini, Eliahu Inbal, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Antonio Pappano, Michel Plasson, Georges Prêtre, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Philippe Auguin, Giuseppe Sinopoli, and Georg Solti.