The Italian mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona has become a prominent singer in the bel canto repertory, specializing in the travesti or cross-dressing roles in Rossini's operas. As her career has developed, she has added music as far forward as the verismo period to her repertory.
Barcellona was born in Trieste, Italy, on March 28, 1969. She studied piano at the conservatory there, but switched to opera under the teaching of conductor Alessandro Vitiello, whom she married in 1998. Unusually, he has been her only voice teacher, and he has even composed her vocal ornaments, whic...