Valerio Contaldo

The Italian tenor Valerio Contaldo is equally at home in Baroque opera, Classical oratorio and 20th-century sacred repertory. His wide repertory and stylistic flexibility have made him a sought-after soloist worldwide.

He has appeared at international venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Musikverein, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Paris Opéra, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, La Scala, Milan, and the Teatro La Fenice, and at the Edinburgh Festival, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, La Folle Journée in Nantes, the MA Festival Brugge, the Styriarte, the Mozartwoche and the Salzburg Festival. He has worked with conductors such as Rinaldo Alessandrini, William Christie, Sébastien Daucé, Leonardo García-Alarcón, Marc Minkowski, Stéphane Fuget and Philippe Herreweghe.

Highlights of 2025/26 have included Cavalli’s Pompeo Magno with the Cappella Mediterranea at the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival and the MusikTheater an der Wien, Lully’s Atys at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Handel’s Semele with Capella Cracoviensis. He also returns to Salzburg with L’Arpeggiata and sings his signature role of Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival.

His repertory also includes Monteverdi’s Ulisse (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria), Handel’s Oronte (Alcina) and Damon (Acis and Galatea), Frank Martin’s Le Vin herbé, Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète and Henri Rabaud’s Mârouf, savetier du Caire, along with Bach’s Passions, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s The Seasons and The Creation, Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

His discography includes recordings of L’Orfeo with Cappella Mediterranea, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with Les Épopées, Monteverdi’s Il settimo libro de’ Madrigali, Fux’s Dafne in Lauro, Mysliveček’s oratorio Adamo ed Eva, Handel’s Alcina with Les Musiciens du Louvre and Giacomelli’s Cesare in Egitto under Ottavio Dantone.

Valerio Contaldo comes from Switzerland and studied classical guitar in Sion and Paris and singing at the Conservatoire de Lausanne with Gary Magby. He also participated in masterclasses with Christa Ludwig, Klesie Kelly and Julius Drake.