Valerio Contaldo
Valerio Contaldo
Tenor
Valerio Contaldo is managed worldwide by Rozemarijn Tiben and Fernando de Testa.
Contact:
Artist Manager
E: rozemarijn.tiben@interartists.nl
T: +31 6 34 272 282
Assistant Artist Manager
E: fernando.detesta@interartists.nl
T: +33 7 48 25 93 63
Highlights 2024-25
September 2024:
Title role of Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Le Sentier with Cappella Mediterranea led by Leonardo García Alarcón.
October-November 2024:
Telemaco in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria at the Ravenna Festival led by Ottavio Dantone.
Evangelist in a staged version of Bach’s Johannes Passion at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Cappella Mediterranea led by Leonardo García Alarcón.
December 2024:
Händel’s Messiah with Basque National Orchestra led by Aarón Zapico.
Bach’s Hohe Messe with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra led by Leonardo García Alarcón.
January 2025:
Amour à mort at the Opéra de Nancy led by Leonardo García Alarcón.
Damon in Händel’s Acis and Galatea at the Opéra Royal de Versailles.
February 2025:
Orfeo (title role, Monteverdi) at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia.
Polifonte in Terradellas’ Merope at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Real, Staatsoper unter den Linden and Theater an der Wien with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin led by Francesco Corti.
April 2025:
Evangelist in Bach’s Matthäus Passion at the Easter Festival of Aix-en-Provence with Les Ambassadeurs led by Alexis Kossenko.
Tenor aria’s in the Matthäus Passion with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra led by Riccardo Minasi.
Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine at the Maison de la Radio France.
Reviews
Oronte in Alcina – Teatro alla Scala – February 2024
“The tenor Valerio Contaldo, an unusually energetic and assertive Oronte.”
Monteverdi, L’ORFEO - Cappella Mediterranea- CD Alpha, 2021
“Valerio Contaldo’s performance with his bronze-like voice is an achievement: the authority he exudes in ‘Rosa del ciel’ already seems imbued with a dream. We will see his Orpheus successively mysterious, euphoric, devastated, and resigned. Under a very animated string accompaniment, ‘Possente spirto’ obeys a volcanic surge of passion. Contaldo triumphs over all obstacles before an interlude for plucked strings that reminds us that the Thracian hero is also a virtuoso of the lyre. (Award: Choc de l’année)”
“Valerio Contaldo surprises at first, in ‘Rosa del ciel,’ with an Orpheus more like an ordinary man than a poet. But it is to better metamorphose himself and achieve superb inspiration in ‘Possente spirto,’ for which he has all the assets (low range, coloratura di gola...) as if it were the trial that revealed him as a poet. (Award: diamant)”
“With a mastery of the Italian language (crucial in this repertoire), refined emission technique, and - as a consequence of the latter - a phrasing rich in chiaroscuro, Valerio Contaldo’s Orpheus fully conveys the wide range of emotions that unfold throughout the course of the opera: bliss, trepidation, anguish, sorrow, regret, anger, resignation, and the concluding apotheosis.”
Evangelist in Bach’s Johannes Passion - Salzburg Easter Festival and Opéra de Dijon – March 2024
“Admirable, moving, Valerio Contaldo gives us a very great Evangelist, just, true, sincere, without added pathos. The diction is ideal, with constant intelligibility.”
“This is noticeable from the first phrases of Valerio Contaldo’s Evangelist, with his supple and fleshy voice, who does not hesitate to translate the suffering of Christ into his body, without the clinical distance that some narrators adopt.”
“Outstanding is the bright-toned Evangelist Valerio Contaldo.”
Orfeo – Cappella Mediterranea - Festival de Santander – August 2023
“As Orpheus, Valerio Contaldo displayed his vocal qualities combined with a broad expressive range, driven by the music to calibrate the exact weight of each word. In flawless singing in ‘Possente spirto,’ where Monteverdi captured almost everything he could, torn apart by the possibility of losing Euridice, he finally joined Apollo in a liberating and expansive phrasing.”
“Valerio Contaldo built an extraordinary Orpheus. He is a good actor, and his voice is very well emitted. In his stellar moment, the ‘Possente spirito’ – not only a great moment in this opera but one of the great moments in the history of the genre, with enormous technical difficulty and expressiveness – left us in awe with a heartfelt interpretation, more than adequate melismas, and impeccable style.”
Damon in Acis and Galatea – Cappella Mediterranea - La Cité Bleue – November 2023
“Contrast with the entrance of Valerio Contaldo, a very lively shepherd Damon... Also a lyric tenor, with an emission described as Italian, radiant, robust, and well-built, yet flexible enough to offer full-voiced vocalizations, with a dazzling vitality. Also a specialist in baroque singing, García Alarcón’s Orfeo is, as always, of intense physical presence, with a projected and fervent voice.”
"Title role Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria – CD Les Épopées – July 2022
“The title role is excellently sung by Valerio Contaldo, a distinctive tenor who, with a remarkably controlled voice, delivers a perfect portrayal of Ulysses.”
Orfeo – Cappella Mediterranea - Beaune – July 2022
“Valerio Contaldo est un Orfeo idéal, au timbre suave et doux.”
Orfeo – Budapest Festival Orchestra – September 2019
“In the title role, Valerio Contaldo showed off a bright, flexible tenor that shone beautifully in ‘Possente spirito’.”
Orfeo – Cappella Mediterranea – Bozar – May 2017
“If all the soloists deserve praise, special mention must go to the tenor Valerio Contaldo’s Orpheus, who offered a magnificent interpretation, showing the ability to express the joy of the demi-god’s love for Eurydice as well as the despair of having lost his beloved (‘Addio terra, addio cielo’ truly touched the heart). And with virtuosity and emotion, he delivered ‘Possente spirito,’ aiming to convince Pluto (Konstantin Wolff, excellent) to return Eurydice from the dead.”