The Italian soprano, with a distinguished international career, takes on the complex female lead in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Palau de la Música
Francesca Pia Vitale, who makes her Valencia debut on 12 and 14 June as Mozart’s iconic Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, describes the role as “a significant milestone that marks my vocal and interpretative growth.” She adds: “I think the greatness of the relationship between Donna Anna and Don Giovanni lies precisely in the fact that Mozart and his librettist Da Ponte don’t give us all the answers. It’s a bond undoubtedly marked by trauma – the violence of the initial event when Don Juan kills Anna’s father – and by a deep power dynamic. But that’s precisely why it continues to yield so many different interpretations. Personally, I see Anna as a woman forced to confront something that completely upends her world, compelling her to dig deep and find an extraordinary strength within herself. It’s that human aspect I want to bring to the stage.”
On the vocal demands of the role, the Italian soprano notes that “it requires typically Mozartian control and nobility of line, which must never buckle under the weight of the intense dramatic power that the interpretation calls for.”
The production at Valencia’s Palau de la Música presents Mozart’s masterpiece with stage direction by Benoît De Leersnyder and conductor Francesco Corti at the helm of the Orquestra de València and the Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid. Francesca Pia Vitale shares the stage with Thomas Chenhall as Don Giovanni, Marco Saccardin as Leporello, Marco Ciaponi as Don Ottavio, Arianna Vendittelli as Donna Elvira, and Juliette Mey as Zerlina, among others.
Recent highlights for the Italian soprano include her performance as Epitide in Terradellas’s La Mérope, which enjoyed a triumphant tour across Spanish theatres including Barcelona’s Liceu and Madrid’s Teatro Real, as well as European venues such as Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Vienna’s Theatre an der Wien. Beyond her Valencia debut, Vitale’s 2026 calendar features the season opening at Parma’s Teatro Regio with Orfeo ed Euridice, Les dialogues des Carmélites at Turin’s Teatro Regio, Stradella’s oratorio San Giovanni Battista in Prague and Dresden, L’elisir d’amore at Tokyo’s New National Theatre, Les pêcheurs de perles with Palm Beach Opera, La Bohème at Verona’s Arena, Piccinni e Gluck – una corona per due on a text by Valerio Cappelli at the Ravello Festival, and Don Pasquale at Opéra de Rouen Normandie.
Since 2018, Francesca Pia Vitale has been a regular performer at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, where she has taken part in major productions and will soon be taking on important roles – notably Donna Anna in Robert Carsen’s historic production, scheduled for February 2027.◆
(Artist in collaboration with the Italian agency Press Room)