Bartoli << BAHR toh lee >>, Cecilia (1966-…), is a popular Italian operatic mezzo-soprano. Bartoli has won praise for the warmth and flexibility of her voice and for her lively, witty acting. She has excelled in the operas of Gioachino Rossini of Italy and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart of Austria. Her best-known roles include Cherubino in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.
Bartoli has gained recognition for her recitals of arias by Mozart and Rossini as well as her performances of French and Italian songs. Bartoli has also built a notable reputation for the excellence of her many recordings. She won the Grammy Award for best classical vocal performance several times.
Bartoli was born on June 4, 1966, in Rome. When she was nine, she played a shepherd boy in a production of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca. She studied singing with her mother, a former opera singer, at an early age. She later studied music at the Academy of Saint Cecilia in Rome before making her professional opera debut in 1987 in Verona, Italy. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1996 as Despina in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte.
