In April 2019 Marina Viotti was awarded the “Mazars Young Singer Award” as best young singer at the prestigious International Opera Awards in London. She won the 3rd prize at the “Concours de Genève” in 2016, the International Belcanto Prize at the Rossini Festival in Wildbad in 2015 and the first prize as well as the Musician’s Prize at the International Competition of Mâcon in 2014.
The versatile musician first studied flute, experimented with jazz, gospel and heavy metal, earned a master’s degree in philosophy and literature before beginning her vocal training with Heidi Brunner in Vienna, which she continued at the Lausanne Conservatory in the class of Brigitte Balleys. She graduated with a soloist diploma and is currently completing her training with bel canto studies with Raul Gimenez.
Marina Viotti’s first steps on the operatic stage after her studies took her to the Lausanne Opera, the Lucerne Theatre and, as part of the young ensemble, to the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
Meanwhile, she became an internationally sought-after artist who guests at the most renowned opera houses. She opened the 2019/ 20 season with her house debut at the Bavarian State Opera as Maddalena/Rigoletto and at La Scala in Milan as Stéphano in Romeo and Juliet. Other important house debuts were Rosina/ Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Semperoper in Dresden, Melibea/Il viaggio a Reims in Valencia and Rosina at the Liceu in Barcelona.
The 2020/21 season was also included several house and role debuts: Marina Viotti made her debut at the Bilbao Opera with Il turco in Italia, debuted at the Bolshoi in Moscow in the role of Rosina, made her debut as Bradamante/ Alcina in a concert version at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg and returned to the Liceu in Barcelona as Nicklausse and Muse/Hoffmann’s Tales. Together with the Gulbenkian Orchestra she was heard in a semi-staged performance of Francis Poulenc’s mono opera La voix humaine.
Recent highlights include her house debut at the Staatsoper Berlin as Dorabella/ Così fan tutte under the baton of Daniel Barenboim, Maddalena/Rigoletto at La Scala Milan, Orlofsky/Fledermaus at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Bradamante/Alcina as well as concert performances of Rossini’s Semiramide (Arsace) in Lausanne. The end of the 2021/ 22 season marked an engagement at the Sanxay Festival, where she took on the role of Rosina.
In addition to her activity on the opera stage, Marina Viotti is also a sought-after concert singer. Her concert repertoire includes: The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour (Haydn), Beethoven’s Mass in D major and Symphony No. 9, Kindertotenlieder (Mahler) with the OCL, Der Rose Pilgerfahrt (Schumann), La petite messe solennelle (Rossini), Verdi’s Requiem, El amor Brujo (De Falla) with the Ochestre de la Suisse Italienne, La Poème de l’amour et de la mer (Chausson), to name but a few. She is regularly invited to festivals (Lavaux Classics, Solothurn Classics, Label Suisse) to present her recital programs “Love has no borders” (duo piano/vocals) and “De Bach à Piaf, chansons d’amour”.
In the 2022/ 23 season Marina Viotti will take on Muse/ Nicklausse in a new production of Tales of Hoffmann at La Scala in Milan, sing Alceste at the Opera in Rome and Stéphane/ Roméo et Juliette at the Bastille in Paris. She will also have an appearance in the signature role of La Périchole under the baton of Marc Minkowski at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. In addition, several concert engagements will take her to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and to Grafenegg as part of the “Schlossklänge”.
August 2022 – For the most recent biography, please contact Nicola Kamphausen