Andrea Silvestrelli has quickly become one of the most sought-after 'bassi profondi' on the international opera scene. Garnering critical acclaim for his debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Rigoletto, the Chicago Sun Times reported, "There were wild cheers for Andrea Silvestrelli …who brought a terrifying, sepulchral tone to the assassin Sparafucile." The Chicago Sun concurred, "Andrea Silvestrelli wielded a big, black, menacing bass in his debut as the assassin Sparafucile."

The 2007-2008 season brings Mr. Silvestrlli to the Houston Grand Opera as Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail , to Chicago as Colline in La bohème , to the Washington National Opera as Sparafucile, to the San Francisco Opera as Fasolt, and the Milwaukee Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 . Future seasons bring the bass to the Seattle Opera as Hunding and Fasolt in their Ring Cycles , to the Los Angeles Opera for Gianni Schicchi , to Houston for Sparafucile, and for several leading roles to the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Mr. Silvestrelli opened last season as Ferrando in Il trovatore at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, followed by Timur in the same house, and went on to sing Hermann in Tannhäuser with Seiji Ozawa at the Nomori Opera Festival in Tokyo, and made his debut in the title role of Bluebeard’s Castle for the Welsh National Opera.

In 2005-2006 Mr. Silvestrelli was Hagen in Mexico City’s Götterdämmerung , Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte in Tel Aviv, Filippo II in Don Carlos for the Welsh National Opera, followed by a revival of Sparafucile for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Caronte in Orfeo at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and his debut at the Santa Fe Opera as Sarastro. Mr. Silvestrelli was heard in the 2004-2005 season as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Fasolt in Das Rheingold at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, The High Priest in Samson et Dalila in Tel Aviv, Zaccaria in Nabucco in Macerata, and in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem at the Netherlands Radio Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev.

Most recent seasons have included performances as Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Horatio in Hamlet in Trieste, Hunding in Die Walküre for Mexico City, Oroveso in Norma for Finnish National Opera, Assassino nella cattedrale and Il Gatto con gli stivali with Rome Opera, Filippo II in Don Carlo in Graz, Banco in Macbeth in Amsterdam, the French King in Reimann’s Lear and Oroveso in Norma in Torino, Pistola in Falstaff at the Teatro Comunale, Commendatore in Don Giovanni at Covent Garden and Seneca in L’incoronatione di Poppea at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, Gofreddo in Il pirata at the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris, Sparafucile in the Canary Islands, Commendatore in Don Giovanni at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Oroveso in Norma at the São Carlos in Lisbon, Hermann in Tannhäuser at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Titurel in Parsifal at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Semyon Bychkov, Pistola in Falstaff at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome under Daniele Gatti and at the Berlin Staatsoper under Claudio Abbado, his debut with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Lodovico in Otello, Timur in the Zhang Zimou production of Turandot led by Zubin Mehta performed by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in the Forbidden City in Beijing at the San Francisco Opera, Escamillo in Carmen in Tokyo, Penderecki’s The Devils of Loudoun and Pizzetti’s Murder in the Cathedral in Turin, Pistola in Falstaff with the Minnesota Orchestra under Jeffrey Tate, and Aida in Florence and in Amsterdam under Riccardo Chailly.

Early in his career Mr. Silvestrelli has performed in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Trieste, La Bohème at the Teatro San Carlo of Naples and in Philadelphia, La Sonnambula in Macerata, and Rigoletto in Bologna, with Riccardo Chailly. He opened the season in 1992-93 at La Scala in Don Carlo under Riccardo Muti, La favorita and Die Zauberflöte in Philadelphia, Don Giovanni in Parma, Amsterdam and London with John Eliot Gardiner. He has also sung with Scottish Opera, in Florence with Myung-Whun Chung, Nabucco in Ravenna with Riccardo Muti, and the King in Aida with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta, and also as Ramphis with the same conductor in Florence. Additional highlights include Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Rai of Torino with Giuseppe Sinopoli, Il prigioniero at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with Zubin Mehta, and I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Opéra de Paris Bastille.

Mr. Silvestrelli is a regular guest of symphony orchestras and has been heard with Sir Andrew Davis and the Tornoto Symphony Orchestra in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, in Puccini’s Messa di Gloria in Hamburg, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Berlin, Verdi’s Messa da requiem in Siena with the ABC Symphony in Sydney and at the Gasteig in Munich. Mr. Silvestrelli has recorded Don Giovanni (Commendatore) conducted by John Eliot Gardiner for DGG, a production awarded with the Grammy Award 1995, and Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo for Decca (1996).

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