Giorgia Fumanti

Soprano Giorgia Fumanti, an Italian singer recognized for her interpretations of opera arias, film themes, and both traditional and modern pop songs, has issued multiple recordings centered on the compositions of Vangelis. She has maintained her residence in Montreal since the early 2000s, and her first major-label project, From My Heart from 2006, achieved international chart placement that encompassed Billboard’s classical listings.

Born in Fivizzano, Italy, and raised in the nearby town of Aulla, Fumanti joined her local church choir at age 16. She soon took on solo duties and, while still a teenager, became a member of the globally recognized medieval ensemble Il Convitto Armonico. Following a stretch during which she pursued legal studies at the Universita di Parma, she transferred to the Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito in the same city to train in vocal performance.

Fumanti moved to Montreal in 2002, the year a demo reached producer Maurice Velenosi, who subsequently took on management duties. Under the stage name Gio Aria she issued Like a Dream in 2004; the project highlighted Vangelis material and showcased her polished soprano against choral, orchestral, and pop backdrops. Subsequent performances took her across Canada, Italy, Japan, and South Korea, among them an appearance alongside the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Also in 2004 she taped a national Bravo Canada television special, and in 2005 she appeared at the Montreal Highlights Festival among other engagements.

During the latter half of 2006 Fumanti signed with EMI and tracked an album at Abbey Road Studios in London, supplementing those sessions in the Netherlands. Late that year she joined Ryland Angel and Sasha & Shawna for the PBS program Heavenly Voices. Her major-label debut under her own name, From My Heart, surfaced on EMI’s Angel Records in January 2007. The set contained four Ennio Morricone compositions and a rendering of Sting’s “Fields of Gold,” and it registered on charts in the United States, Japan, and South Africa. Heavenly Voices reached DVD via Capitol’s Manhattan Records that March, after which she toured Canada as a guest of pianist Richard Abel. She later shared an Asian itinerary with opera luminary José Carreras while also mounting her own concerts throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. The French-language album Je Suis appeared in 2008.

She returned to Vangelis repertoire as Gio Aria in 2009, the same year she released the Giorgia Fumanti albums Peace of Heaven and Magnificat, the former a song collection and the latter a set of arias. Elysium followed on Universal in 2011, and VEGA2 issued the retrospective Collection in 2012. One year later she delivered the Spanish-language recording Corazón Latino; Essence and Noël en Lumière, the latter recorded with la Croche Coeur, both appeared on VEGA2 in 2015. During this period she became a recurring presence on Chinese television, performing at awards ceremonies, sporting-event openings, and the CCTV New Year’s Eve Gala. Her tenth album, Amour, arrived in 2018 and featured a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” that accumulated more than a million streams within weeks of release.