Francesco Meli

Tenor Francesco Meli has performed leading roles across premier venues in Italy, Western Europe, and the United States, concentrating his work within the Italian Romantic operatic canon.

Born in Genoa on May 15, 1980, Meli began formal vocal training at age 17 at the Niccolò Paganini Conservatory, where he studied with Norma Palacios and completed his degree. He continued his preparation under mezzo-soprano Franca Mattiucci and tenor Vittorio Terranova. His professional bow occurred in 2002 at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, where he took on three assignments—one in Verdi’s Macbeth, one in Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle, and one in Puccini’s Messa di Gloria—all of which aired on Italy’s RAI network. Shortly afterward he made his La Scala debut under Riccardo Muti in Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmelites. He returned to the house in 2004 as Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, a part he has since repeated at numerous Italian theaters.

Meli entered the recording studio for the first time in 2007 on Virgin Classics, partnering soprano Natalie Dessay in Bellini’s La sonnambula. That same year he had already launched an international career with 2005 debuts at Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Fenice as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in the title role of the same opera. His first appearance at New York’s Metropolitan Opera followed in 2010. Verdi repertory has formed a substantial share of his engagements; during the 2012–2013 season he sang Simon Boccanegra, I due Foscari, Ernani, and Nabucco at the Rome Opera House and Macbeth at Chicago’s Lyric Opera, again led by Muti. He has also performed concert repertoire, including Verdi’s Requiem with Muti at Vienna’s Musikverein. Puccini’s Cavaradossi in Tosca remains another signature role; he performed it opposite Anna Netrebko and later toured Japan with the production in 2021.

His discography includes releases on Opus Arte, Dynamic, and Naxos, the last of these a live 2022 account of Verdi’s Ernani with the Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino that appeared in 2024.