Biography
Mario Corradi has directed in opera houses all over the world for the past three decades.
He has worked with notable artists such as Frederica von Stade, Fiorenza Cossotto, Piero Cappuccilli, Denyce Graves, Vladimir Galouzine, Renato Bruson, Lucia Valentini Terrani and Daniela Dessi. In addition, he is sought after to teach master classes for young singers. His repertoire spans from Monteverdi to contemporary composers. In the past he has taught at the University of Notre Dame, Yale and the Catholic University of Milan.
Mario Corradi began his theatrical career at the Yale University Theatre acted in and directed a wide range of plays while completing his doctoral studies in Philosophy. Upon his return to Milan he began teaching Philosophy (especially Greek and Contemporary) at the Catholic University of Milan. He served as an assistant to Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and Ken Russell before he made his debut as stage director with Il Matrimonio Segreto in Palermo.
The list of opera companies for whom he has directed productions are numerous, including: Bari, Bergamo, Brescia, Cagliari, Jesi, Macerata, Naples, Parma, Salerno, Taormina, Trapani and Torre del Lago (Italy); Marseilles (France); Seoul (Korea); Tokyo (Japan); Athens (Greece); Monte Carlo; Madrid and Valencia (Spain); Kiev (Ukraine); Yerevan (Armenia); and Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Costa Mesa and Palm Beach.(U.S.A.)
His active repertoire includes all of the operas of Verdi and Puccini, plus many works by Bellini, Donizetti, Gounod, Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Massenet, Menotti, Mozart, Ponchielli, and Rossini.
Notable titles include: Aida, Andrea Chenier, L’Assedio di Corinto, Attila, Un Ballo in Maschera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Boheme, Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana, La Cenerentola, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Don Pasquale, L’Elisir d’Amore, Falstaff, La Fanciulla del West, Faust, La Gioconda, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Nabucco, Norma, Le Nozze di Figaro, I Pagliacci, I Puritani, Rigoletto, Romeo et Juliette, Tosca. Turandot, and Werther, to name a few.
As a member of the Giuseppe di Stefano International Competition, from 1994 until 2007, Mario Corradi, together with Soprano Magda Olivero, gave Master Classes in acting to the young Competition winners. The competition was aimed at finding singers for an Opera. The prize was the role. The winners had to go through a series of master classes: Magda Olivero taught voice and he taught acting. After the initial training, regular rehearsals began and the operas were performed during a Summer Festival.
Mario Corradi returned to Detroit last fall (2013) to direct La Traviata. This autumn, he will direct Luisa Miller in Aachen, Germany.