A native of Palermo, Ugo Guagliardo is one of Europe’s most sought-after basses. In addition to his philosophy degree at the University of Palermo, he graduated in piano and voice from the Conservatorio Vincenzo Bellini.
Famed for the rich, full timbre of his voice and his acting abilities, he has won international recognition for his interpretations of Mozart, Bel Canto and the Romantic repertoire.
His debut as Alidoro in La Cenerentola at the Salzburg Festival in 2014, where he shared the stage with Cecilia Bartoli, was highly acclaimed by both the audience and the critics.
Ugo has sung at many of the most renowned opera houses and festivals worldwide: Theater an der Wien, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles, La Monnaie in Brussels, Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Liceu Barcelona, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opernhaus Zürich, Salzburg Festival, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.
Equally at home in both opera seria and buffa, Ugo Guagliardo has performed numerous Rossini opera roles including Alidoro (La Cenerentola) in Florence, Rome, Bruxelles, Strasbourg, Dresden, Tel Aviv; Lord Sidney (Il Viaggio a Reims) at Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival; Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) in Florence, Naples and Lugano; Le Gouverneur (Le Comte Ory) in Zurich; Assur (Semiramide) in Rome; Blansac (La Scala di seta) in Palermo and Paris; Orbazzano (Tancredi) in Bruxelles La Monnaie and Rossini in Wildbad Festival; Fernando (La Gazza ladra) in Bologna and Dresden. Ugo also starred as Fenicio in Rossini’s Ermione for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
Mozart singer of the first order, he has performed the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro, the title role and Leporello in Don Giovanni, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Publio in La Clemenza di Tito…
Ugo has worked with Europe’s most renowned Early Music specialists such as Ottavio Dantone, Emmanuelle Haïm, Alessandro De Marchi, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Marc Minkowski, Fabio Biondi, Jérémie Rhorer and the late Jean-Claude Malgoire. Furthermore, he has appeared with Gianandrea Noseda, Alberto Zedda, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Michele Mariotti, Enrique Mazzola and Antonino Fogliani.
Among his past career highlights are La Bohème (Colline) at the Teatro Regio Torino under Andrea Battistoni and in a Frédéric Chaslin/Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera production at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, Macbeth (Banco) at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Il Trovatore (Ferrando) at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Aida (Il Re d’Egitto) at the Arena of Verona, Les Pêcheurs de perles (Nourabad) at both the Teatro Regio Torino and Teatro Massimo di Palermo, and Ariodante (the King of Scotland) in a Jean-Christophe Spinosi/David McVicar production at the Israeli Opera.
Ugo Guagliardo has recorded for Decca – Bellini’s Puritani, Rossini’s Comte Ory – and Naxos – Rossini’s Otello and La Scala di seta, Pacini’s Don Giovanni, Mercadante’s Don Chisciotte and Cavalli’s Gli Amori d’Apollo e di Dafne.
