Stefano de Peppo
Stefano de Peppo was born in Italy and began his career as a boy soprano in the Children Chorus of La Scala in Milan. After graduating at Civica Scuola di Musica in Milano, thanks to a scholarship he moved to London and studied at Royal College of Music and with private teachers. He then moved to Mexico City and made his debut as a very young bass-baritone at Bellas Artes Opera House in 1990. In the year 2000 he moved to New York City where he now resides.
Leporello (Don Giovanni), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola), Bartolo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Publio (Mexican premier of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito with Ramon Vargas in the title role) are some of the roles that made him very successful for, and opened the doors for an international career. His vocal and acting skills, plus his crisp diction and musicality have made him a great and acclaimed specialist in the comic Italian/French repertory of the 18th and 19th century.
He sang Mustafà (L’Italiana in Algeri), Dulcamara (L’ Elisir d’amore), Don Pasquale, Geronte (Manon Lescaut), Sulpice (La Fille du regiment), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Sacristan (Tosca) at Minnesota Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Hamilton Opera in Canada, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Miami Lyric Opera, Sarasota Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, New Jersey Opera, Houston Opera in the Heights, (USA), Teatro Villamarta, Teatro Cervantes, Gran Teatro de Cordoba, Gran Teatro de Zaragoza, Opera de Tenerife (SPAIN), Teatro Colon de Bogota (COLOMBIA), New Israeli Opera, Finnish National Opera.
In 2002 he sang Leporello in Rome with the famous baritone Renato Bruson as don Giovanni in a production televised by RAI and released into a commercial DVD. After auditioning for Placido Domingo he was chosen to sing Betto (Gianni Schicchi) at Los Angeles Opera and at Washington Opera (with Samuel Ramey as Schicchi) in a new production by movie director William Friedkin. He was Bartolo in Kansas with the delightful Rosina of worldwide acclaimed mezzo Joyce DiDonato. He also sang a very successful Don Pasquale at Memphis Opera and at Opera in the Heights in Houston TX, the title role of Don Giovanni with Mozart Festival Opera, and the comic role of Barone Kelbar in the world premier of the revised edition of Verdi’s Un giorno di regno with great acclaim at Sarasota Opera.
He took part to Francesca Zambello’s mega-production of La Boheme (as Schaunard) at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London in 2015, and he appeared in a live televised concert at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City with the worldwide famous Mexican tenor Javier Camarena.
Also to be mentioned his first successful take of the title role in Gianni Schicchi at Opera Santa Barbara, Sulpice at Arizona Opera, Austin Opera and Atlanta Opera, Dulcamara at Opera Costa Rica, don Alfonso at Sarasota Opera , don Magnifico at Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera and Arizona Opera. Leporello at Opera Monterrey, and don Pasquale at Chautauqua Opera. He was Gaudenzio (Il Signor Bruschino) at Opera Monterrey, Bartolo (Barbiere) in a Tour of France and Spain with Opera 2001 and at Sarasota Opera, Bartolo (Nozze) and Bartolo (Barbiere) at Opera Colorado, Don Pasquale at UAG Opera Theatre, Dulcamara at Sarasota Opera, In 2021/2022 he was Uberto (La serva padrona) and Gaudenzio (Il signor Bruschino) at Sarasota Opera, don Magnifico at Nashville Opera, the Sacristan (Tosca) at Opera Colorado and at Sarasota Opera, and again at Sarasota Opera he was Geronimo (Il matrimonio segreto) and Leporello (Don Giovanni) during the 2022/2023 season.
During the summer 2022 he took part to the new opera Tenor overboard by Ken Ludwig/Gioachino Rossini directed by Francesca Zambello, which was successfully premiered at Glimmerglass Festival, where he returns in 2023 in La Boheme and Romeo et Juliet, and in 2024 he will return to Opera Colorado as Sulpice.
