Alessia Vitali’s Artist Statement is dedicated to her mother, Antonietta Presta, and her grandfather, Luigi Presta. Alessia performs “Calabrisella Mia,” a traditional folk song from Calabria, Italy, with tenor Angelo Moretti and pianist Andrea Grant.
“When it came time to think of something that makes me unique for this project, I thought of my relationship with my mother right away. She’s always been super supportive of me and without her, I would not be where I am today. She’s also a big part of why I feel so connected to my Italian heritage.”
“A big theme of the video was nostalgia, that’s why I chose to show a lot of trinkets from my grandmother’s house and all of the pictures. I thought the theme of photos was really interesting because photos obviously hold a lot of memories, but also, music holds a lot of memories, especially folk songs.”
“I’d love to arrange more folk songs from Calabria, the region in Italy where my family is from….I think singers should be less afraid of trying new things and less afraid of being imperfect because nothing is perfect, and music shouldn’t be either.”
Alessia Vitali is an Italian Canadian mezzo-soprano who completed her BMus in Vocal Performance at UofT. She is currently in her second year of her MMus in Opera at UofT, studying with Elizabeth McDonald. In 2019, Alessia played the role of Cherubino in Long Reach Opera’s Le nozze di Figaro. In March 2020, she understudied the role of Fanny Price in the Canadian premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park with UofT Opera. In February, she appeared in UofT Opera’s Student Composer Collective premiere of Escape Room and in April, she sang the role of Carmen in UofT Opera’s production of La Tragédie de Carmen.
Thank you to Alessia for sharing her project and artistic voice. You can find more of Alessia on Instagram and Twitter, as well as by visiting her website.
The Artist Statement Project was created as a part of AtG and University of Toronto’s National Opera Intensive program in August 2021. To explore more projects by participating artists, click here. To learn more about the National Opera Intensive, click here.