Valerio Contaldo
Tenor
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Hailed by Forum Opéra as "an ideal Orfeo" and, as the Evangelist in Bach's Passions, "a prodigious storyteller," the tenor Valerio Contaldo has become one of the most sought-after voices of the early-music stage and the concert platform. Critics return again and again to his golden, supple timbre, the ease of his coloratura, and a diction and dramatic commitment that make him a narrator of rare intensity.
Born in Italy and raised in Switzerland, Contaldo trained first as a classical guitarist in Sion and Paris before turning to the voice, completing a Master's in the class of Gary Magby at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne. He was a finalist at the 2008 Leipzig Bach Competition and worked in masterclasses with Christa Ludwig, Klesie Kelly, David Jones, and Julius Drake. That first instrument has never quite left him: in Cavalli's Pompeo Magno he accompanied himself on baroque guitar.
His repertoire runs from the early baroque of Monteverdi, Cavalli, and Händel through Mozart and Rossini to the twentieth century, while his concert work spans the central sacred masterpieces from Monteverdi to Britten and Frank Martin, among them the Bach Passions and cantatas, Mozart's Requiem and Mass in C minor, Haydn's Creation and Seasons, and Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle. Chief among his signature roles is the title part of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, which he has sung across the world with Concerto Italiano under Rinaldo Alessandrini and with Cappella Mediterranea under Leonardo García Alarcón, from Brussels, Amsterdam, and Paris to Beijing and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
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The 2026/27 season sees him return to Orfeo with Leonardo García Alarcón in semi-staged performances at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, alongside the title role in Porpora's Mitridate with Il Pomo d'Oro at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Händel's Acis and Galatea in Valencia, and Landi's La Morte d'Orfeo with Les Traversées Baroques at the Auditorium de Dijon. In concert he sings the Evangelist in Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the St John Passion in Sasha Waltz's acclaimed staging at the Bachfest Leipzig, the Mass in B minor with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and the Christmas Oratorio with the Nederlands Kamerkoor, alongside continuing projects with Cappella Mediterranea and L'Arpeggiata.
Recent seasons have brought his Teatro alla Scala debut as Oronte in Händel's Alcina, Mitridate in Cavalli's Pompeo Magno at the Bayreuth Baroque Festival, Morphée in Lully's Atys at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Polifonte in Terradellas' Merope with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and the title role of Rabaud's Mârouf at the Opéra de Bordeaux and Opéra Comique. He appears at Carnegie Hall, the Musikverein, the Opéra de Paris, and La Fenice, and at the festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg, Edinburgh, and Utrecht, working with conductors including Marc Minkowski, William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, and Rinaldo Alessandrini.
His discography includes acclaimed recordings of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo with Cappella Mediterranea (Alpha), Bach's Mass in B minor with Gli Angeli Genève (Claves), and Fux's Dafne in Lauro with Zefiro (Arcana).
General Management: Tiben Artists
