Valentino Buzza was born in Catania, where he graduated from the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory in 2008. Over subsequent years, he participated in masterclass courses run by Leone Magiera, Edda Moser and Renato Bruson, among others.
He won several international singing competitions including the “Luciano Pavarotti Prize” for the Marcello Giordani Foundation (2016) and the First Prize at the “Tito Schipa” Opera Competition (2012).
Valentino participated in various opera productions at the Centre Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo in Valencia (Palau de les Arts’ Opera Studio), including La Bohème (Rodolfo) under the direction of Riccardo Chailly, Così fan tutte (Ferrando) conducted by Marco Guidarini, La Traviata (Giuseppe) and Turandot (Pang) both under Zubin Mehta, Simon Boccanegra (Capitano dei balestrieri) alongside Plácido Domingo under the direction of Evelino Pidò.
Most recently, he made his debut at the Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles in Zingarelli’s Giulietta e Romeo alongside Franco Fagioli in a new Stefan Plewniak/Gilles Rico production.
He embodied the title roles in the following masterpieces of the operatic repertoire: Mozart’s Sogno di Scipione under the baton of Maestro Sardelli at Theatre Malibran and Bastien et Bastienne in a Davide Livermore production in Genoa, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas under Stefano Montanari at Florence Opera, Vivaldi’s Incoronazione di Dario led by Federico Maria Sardelli for the Valencia Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia and Catone in Utica by the same composer for both the Festival Opera Barga and the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara.
In addition, Valentino appeared as Edmondo in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at São Paulo Theatro Municipal and as Pang in Turandot at the Torre del Lago Puccini Festival. He was Aristeo in D. Scarlatti’s Narciso at the Innsbruck Festival, Nemorino in Donizetti’s Elisir d’amore at both the Florence Opera and Teatro Massimo Bellini, L’Abate di Chazeuil in Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur for the Bari Teatro Petruzzelli and Filandro in Cimarosa’s Astuzie femminili under Alessandro De March in Rome and Rieti.
With the complicity of Diego Fasolis, he performed Vivaldi’s operas Ottone in villa (Decio) and Farnace (Pompeo) for La Fenice.
With the conduction of Fabio Biondi, he sang Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt in Valencia and Monteverdi’s Orfeo at Theater an der Wien, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Liceu Barcelona, Madrid Auditorio Nacional de Música. He was the tenor soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass under the guidance of Zubin Mehta in Florence and sang the tenor part also in Verdi’s Requiem on a tour throughout Europe with Claus Peter Flor taking the helm of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano.
Valentino recorded Puccini’s Turandot (cond. Zubin Mehta) and Manon Lescaut (cond. Plácido Domingo) for Decca, and Verdi’s Macbeth (cond. Fabio Biondi) for Glossa.
Recent and future engagements include Puccini’s Turandot (Pang) in a Francesco Ivan Ciampa/Cecilia Ligorio production at Teatro La Fenice and Britten’s The Turn of the Screw (Quint) for the opening season of the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova in a new Riccardo Minasi/Davide Livermore production. Valentino will reunite with Federico Maria Sardelli for Vivaldi’s Serenata a tre RV 690 in Ferrara.
