Gianna Corbisiero, soprano
Gianna Corbisiero, was born in Montreal, and is of Italian and American descent. Considered “luminous” by Opera News, she is equally known for her warm vocal timbre, great musicality as well as her radiant stage presence. She received her formal training at McGill University, the Atelier de l’Opera de Montreal and The Juilliard School of New York. She is a recipient of various honours and awards, including a First Prize winner of the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, a special prize from the Luciano Pavarotti International Vocal Competition in Philadelphia and the Top Prize Winner in the Canadian Music Competition.
Since then, she has performed the title/principal roles in operas such as Tosca, La Bohème, La Traviata, I Pagliacci, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, Carmen, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Falstaff throughout North America, Europe and Asia. She had the privilege to be invited to sing under the baton of conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Charles Dutoit and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
She has performed with the Richard Tucker Foundation in New York, Cleveland and Montreal and has performed for the Jackie Desmarais Foundation in the distinguished company of Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming and Marcelo Alvarez under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Metropolitain.
With the triumph in the role of Violetta Valery in La Traviata at Opera de Montreal, she returned in 2011, to perform at their 30th Anniversary Opera Gala where she was recorded live several excerpts of which a compact disc was released by Atma Classique and consequently she returned in the role of Alice Ford in Falstaff in honor of the bicentennial of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth. She was a guest performer with the Montreal Chamber Orchestra for their 40th anniversary in 2014 and performed with Opera Hamilton as they celebrated their 30th anniversary to then sing with the Newfoundland Philharmonic Orchestra as Mimi in La Boheme.
In 2014 she made her debut in cinema, in the role of the diva, Florence da Costa, in which she recorded and performed "O mio babbino caro" for the film ELEPHANT SONG directed by Charles Binamé which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
She has recorded television episodes for Bravo Canada on the Opera Easy Series in opera excerpts of La Bohème, La Traviata, Tosca, and Norma.
In 2016-2017 season, she sang the title role of Suor Angelica with Opéra de Québec after a fabulous success as Floria Tosca the previous season and in 2018-2019 season, she sang in the renowned Festival d’Opéra de Québec in works by Bizet, Catalani, Gardel, and Weil.
In the spring of 2021 in Italy, she performed the roles of Tosca and Mimi in the film PUCCINI, a musical biography produced by Hershey Felder Presents which was filmed on location at the Casa Puccini in Lucca and in Florence, Italy.
She is an invited guest to perform a series of concerts with the Sinfonia de Lanaudière dedicated to honoring the music of George Gershwin, American musicals and opera.
In 2021, in a live-streamed concert she sang and recorded Gershwin songs with the Sinfonia for a Compact disc that was launched in the fall of 2021.
Her recordings have been used for films such as LES MAÎTRES DU SUSPENSE directed by Stéphane Lapointe, ELEPHANT SONG by Charles Biname, and recently In 2022, she recorded for the Quebec film SOLO directed by Sophie Dupuis, Arias “Mi chiamano Mimi” and “Quando m’en vo” from Puccini’s opera La Boheme and “Vilya” from Lehar’s The Merry Widow.
She coached Quebec actress Anne-Marie Cadieux how to lip-sync her own voice as the opera singer in this film as well.
In Italy, filming of VERDI’S TRAVIATA - in the role of Verdi’s wife, Giuseppina Strepponi for Hershey Felder Presents, on location at the Casa Verdi in Busseto, and in Venice at La Fenice, Cafe Florian and Piazza San Marco was the highlight of 2022.
This Summer of 2023 she performed the role of Mamma (specifically written for her) in the opera QUARTO UOMO composed and conducted by Hershey Felder with orchestra members of Maggio Musicale of Florence in July 2023 at the Teatro Romano of Fiesole.
In 2024, the fIlming Of QUARTO UOMO with be shot on location in Agerola Napoli on the Amalfi Coast and Fiesole Tuscany where the actual events happened based on the true story of the Three Martyrs of Fiesole.