Spain & Portugal
“A vocal and dramatic tour de force!” (oper aktuell) — with these and similar words, the press described Anna Bonitatibus in the title role following the 2025 premiere of Agrippina at Opernhaus Zürich. Her impressive vocal agility, combined with an extraordinary sense of detail, makes the Italian mezzo-soprano one of today’s leading “Baroque divas”.
Performances of major works by Mozart, Händel and Rossini have taken her to the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls throughout her career. The so-called “trouser roles”, including her portrayal of Cherubino, have established her as an internationally acclaimed Mozart interpreter.
Bonitatibus’ projects for the 2026/27 season include concerts in Italy and Spain, as well as the homage concert to Alan Curtis at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, her debut as Metilda in a concert performance of Agostino Steffani’s Henrico Leone in Stuttgart, and the title roles in Pollarolo’s Ariodante and Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans at the Barokkfest Early Music Festival in Trondheim and at the Opéra Royal de Versailles.
Her extensive repertoire encompasses works from the early Baroque and bel canto, as well as more than fifty opera roles, in collaboration with some of the most renowned conductors and directors, including Ivor Bolton, Sir Antonio Pappano, René Jacobs, William Christie, Myung Whung Chung, Franz Welser-Möst, Roberto Abbado, Alain Altinoglu, Marc Minkowski, Alan Curtis and Teodor Currentzis.
Highlights of recent seasons include the title roles in Agrippina (Bayerische Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper and Opernhaus Zürich) and Serse (Händelfestspiele Halle), Piacere in Händel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Ruggiero/Alcina in concert with Les Musiciens du Louvre and Marc Minkowski, Idamante/Idomeneo and Giunone/L’Eternità in Cavalli’s La Calisto at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the latter subsequently on a tour of France, and Licida in Pergolesi’s L’Olimpiade at Opernhaus Zürich.
Further highlights have included Il Destino/La Calisto at Bayerische Staatsoper and Teatro Real de Madrid, Händel’s Ottone in Moscow, Giunone/Ercole amante at Opéra Comique Paris, Agrippina, Ottavia/L’incoronazione di Poppea and her role debut as Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria at The Grange Festival, Sesto/La Clemenza di Tito in Warsaw and at Opéra Royal de Wallonie Liège, the title role in Donizetti’s Enrico di Borgogna in Bergamo, Riccardo Broschi’s Merope at the Innsbrucker Festwochen, as well as her debut at Opéra National de Bordeaux as Dulcinée in Massenet’s Don Quichotte under the baton of Marc Minkowski.
In the concert field, she has appeared at venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, in Cleveland, Boston, Paris, Hamburg, Helsinki, Milan, Bologna, Pesaro, Parma, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Potsdam and Linz, as well as at the Aids Operngala in Bonn, the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut and the Händel-Festspiele in Karlsruhe and Halle.
Among Anna Bonitatibus’ passions are musical research and the discovery of unknown musical works from the past, which she makes accessible to the public once again. Out of this passion, she founded the music publishing house “Consonarte”, whose aim is to revive appreciation for the vocal chamber music repertoire.
Alongside many other acclaimed recordings, Anna Bonitatibus was awarded the prize for Best Recording of an Aria Programme at the International Opera Awards 2015 for her CD Semiramide, la Signora regale. In 2016, she toured Europe with selected arias from this CD together with the Baroque orchestra Collegium 1704, giving concerts including in Baden-Baden, Essen and at Wigmore Hall in London, to which she returned in 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026 for recitals of Italian songs.
In 2018, the CD en travesti was also released with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, exploring the so-called “trouser roles” and likewise receiving a highly positive response and critical acclaim. This was followed in 2020 by a recording of Haydn’s Il ritorno di Tobia with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg under Ivor Bolton, and in 2023 by the acclaimed solo CD Monologues with pianist Adele D’Aronzo, featuring works by Donizetti, Rossini, Respighi and Wagner, among others. In 2024, she was awarded the Abbiati Prize (Il premio della critica musicale “Franco Abbiati”) in the Solo Repertoire category for this recording.
Anna Bonitatibus was born in the southern Italian region of Basilicata and made her debut at La Scala in Milan in Don Giovanni in 1999 under the direction of Riccardo Muti. She is the recipient of the 2023 Händel Prize of the City of Halle. The award recognised her boundless enthusiasm with which she has interpreted Händel’s music for many years, as well as her passionate commitment to bringing lesser-known works to the stage.
