The opera should be called “Donna Elvira”, because it is dominated by soprano Alessia Panza: remarkable temperament and an enormous voice, with overtones that fill your ears, used with flawless technique. Her “Mi tradì quell’alma ingrata” is one of the best I have ever heard.
Soprano · Brescia, 1998
Biography
Born in 1998, she began her musical studies at the age of six with the clarinet. She continued her training at the “V. Gambara” Music High School in Brescia, where she studied singing and organ. She graduated in opera singing at the “A. Boito” Conservatory in Parma, earning both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with full marks, honours and special distinction.
She completed her artistic training at some of Italy’s most prestigious opera academies, including the Accademia Verdiana of the Teatro Regio di Parma, the AsLiCo Academy of the Teatro Sociale di Como and the “Rodolfo Celletti” Belcanto Academy in Martina Franca.
She has won and reached the finals of numerous international competitions, receiving major awards such as the “Voci Emergenti” prize and the role of Luisa Miller at the AsLiCo Competition, the “Best Italian Singer” prize at the Portofino International Opera Competition and the “Joven Promesa” prize at the Alicante Opera Competition (Spain). She has also won first prizes at leading competitions including the Maria Callas International Opera Competition, the F. P. Tosti International Competition, the Gaetano Zinetti International Competition, the S. Francesco di Paola International Competition and the Koliqi Competition in Milan, among many others.
She performs extensively in opera and concert in Italy and abroad as a soloist, appearing in prestigious concerts and recitals including the Fuoco di Gioia recital, the Verdi Gala of the Festival Verdi, the Tutto Verdi International Awards Gala at the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, a solo recital at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and a tour of Japan organised by the Japan Tosti Foundation.
Despite her young age, she has worked with internationally renowned conductors and directors such as Zubin Mehta, Daniele Gatti, Adam Fischer, James Conlon, Michele Mariotti, Donato Renzetti, Riccardo Frizza, Francesco Lanzillotta, Carlo Goldstein, Vincenzo Milletarì, Francesco Corti, Leonardo Sini, Valentina Carrasco, Gianmaria Aliverta, Roberto Andò, Jacopo Spirei, Andrea Bernard, David Pountney and Manuel Renga.
In November 2024 she made her Vienna debut at the Konzerthaus with the Wiener Philharmoniker, performing Verdi’s «Libera me» in its first version in concert. She has also performed at the Berlin Philharmonie in a Puccini recital with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Her repertoire ranges from bel canto to verismo, with a particular affinity for Verdi and Puccini. Her Verdi roles include Leonora in Il trovatore, Luisa in Luisa Miller, Lida in La battaglia di Legnano, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlo, Desdemona in Otello and Giovanna in Giovanna d’Arco. In Puccini she has sung Mimì in La Bohème, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly and the title role in Tosca. Her vocal versatility has also led her to Mozart and contemporary repertoire, with roles such as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, as well as appearances in Prokofiev’s The Gambler, Finzi’s Shylock and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14.
Recent engagements include her debut at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari in the title role of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, her role debut as Norma at the Taranto Opera Festival, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana at the Teatro Politeama in Palermo, her role debut as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, her debut in the title role of Alzira at the Festival Verdi of the Teatro Regio di Parma, and her debut at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari as Leonora in Il trovatore.
Upcoming engagements include a return to Norma and Tosca at the Teatro Magnani in Fidenza and the Teatro Savoia in Campobasso respectively, while 2027 will bring Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano.
Lucrezia Borgia · Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, 2026
On stage
Productions
The operas and roles that have shaped her career, from her debut to today.
2026
Un ballo in maschera
Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
11 photos
2026
Lucrezia Borgia
Teatro Lirico di Cagliari
26 photos
2026
Norma
Taranto Opera Festival · Teatro Fusco, Taranto
7 photos
2026
Don Giovanni
Opera Ballet Vlaanderen · Ghent & Antwerp
2 photos
2025
Tosca
Festival Como Città della Musica · Arena del Teatro Sociale, Como
8 photos
2025
Don Giovanni
Stresa Festival
6 photos
2024
La battaglia di Legnano
Festival Verdi · Teatro Regio di Parma
12 photos
2024
Le nozze di Figaro
Stresa Festival
1 photos
2023
Luisa Miller
OperaLombardia · Como, Brescia, Cremona, Pavia
20 photos
2023
La Bohème
Teatro Duse, Bologna · Teatro Stignani, Imola · Teatro Consorziale, Budrio
6 photos
Concerts & portraits
Upcoming
Schedule
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1December 2026
Norma
Bellini · Norma
Teatro Magnani · Fidenza
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8December 2026
Tosca
Puccini · Tosca
Teatro Savoia · Campobasso
-
9December 2026
Opera concert
Teatro Municipale Valli · Reggio Emilia
-
21December 2026
Concert
National Theatre of Kosovo · Pristina
-
27December 2026
Te Deum · Schicksalslied
Bruckner · Brahms
Darfo Boario Terme
-
29December 2026
Opera concert
Teatro Comunale di Vicenza · Vicenza
-
31December 2026
New Year's Eve concert
Teatro Civico · La Spezia
-
24–25March 2027
Petite Messe Solennelle
Rossini
Auditorium di Milano Fondazione Cariplo · Milano
Past performances
-
18–27October 2026
Il trovatore
Verdi · Leonora · performances on 18, 21, 25 and 27 October
Teatro Petruzzelli · Bari
-
10October 2026
Verdi Gala
Festival Verdi
Teatro Regio di Parma · Parma
-
24July 2026
Renata Scotto Opera Gala
Noli Festival · Noli
-
16July 2026
Opera concert
LacMus Festival
-
22May 2026
Un ballo in maschera
Verdi · Amelia
Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino · Firenze
Opera
| Compositore | Title | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellini | Norma | Norma | Performed 2026 |
| Bellini | Beatrice di Tenda | Beatrice | Ready cover 2022 |
| Bizet | Carmen | Micaëla | Ready |
| Donizetti | Anna Bolena | Anna Bolena | In preparation |
| Donizetti | Lucrezia Borgia | Lucrezia Borgia | Performed 2026 |
| Leoncavallo | Pagliacci | Nedda | Ready |
| Mascagni | L'amico Fritz | Suzel | Ready |
| Mozart | Le nozze di Figaro | Contessa | Performed 2024 |
| Mozart | Don Giovanni | Donna Elvira | Performed 2025 |
| Puccini | Le Villi | Anna | In preparation |
| Puccini | La Bohème | Mimì | Performed 2023 |
| Puccini | Tosca | Tosca | Performed 2025 |
| Puccini | Madama Butterfly | Cio-Cio-San | Performed 2025 |
| Puccini | Suor Angelica | Suor Angelica | In preparation |
| Verdi | Ernani | Elvira | In preparation |
| Verdi | Giovanna d'Arco | Giovanna d'Arco | Ready |
| Verdi | Alzira | Alzira | Performed 2026 |
| Verdi | I masnadieri | Amalia | Ready |
| Verdi | Il corsaro | Gulnara | In preparation |
| Verdi | Il corsaro | Medora | In preparation |
| Verdi | La battaglia di Legnano | Lida | Performed 2024 |
| Verdi | Luisa Miller | Luisa Miller | Performed 2023 |
| Verdi | Il trovatore | Leonora | Performed 2025 |
| Verdi | Simon Boccanegra | Amelia | Ready cover 2021 |
| Verdi | Simon Boccanegra (1857) | Amelia | Ready cover 2022 |
| Verdi | Un ballo in maschera | Amelia | Performed 2026 |
| Verdi | Aida | Aida | In preparation |
| Verdi | Don Carlo (Act IV) | Elisabetta | Ready cover 2023 |
| Verdi | Otello | Desdemona | Ready cover 2023 |
| Verdi | Falstaff | Alice | In preparation |
Oratorio & sacred music
| Compositore | Title | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mozart | Requiem | Soprano | Performed 2025 |
| Pergolesi | Stabat Mater | Soprano | Performed 2023 |
| Rossini | Stabat Mater | Soprano | Performed 2024 |
| Rossini | Petite Messe Solennelle | Soprano | Performed 2023 |
| Verdi | Messa da Requiem | Soprano | Performed 2026 |
Reviews
Press
She brings home her debut with an abundance of voice that leaves you spellbound. All the more so because, with such an important volume, the technique is refined: a rare thing.
A stadium-style ovation, thoroughly deserved, effectively raising Panza to the Olympus of bel canto voices, where she already unmistakably belongs.
The revelation of this performance lies above all in Alessia Panza’s role debut.
Alessia Panza confirms that she is one of the most interesting voices of the new generation, with ample singing, rich in overtones, of fine gloss and always well controlled, with a clean, natural line.
Press archive
Excerpts from the reviews, production by production.
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2026
Il trovatore
Leonora · Teatro Petruzzelli, Bari
She reveals a rare charismatic gift that makes her vocally simply perfect […], standing out as the undisputed musical and dramatic heart and engine of the whole production.
Pasquale Attolico · Cirano Post
A Leonora of great expressiveness, beautiful timbre and solid high notes, captivating in the elegiac pages […] and enchanting in the splendid pianissimi of her much-applauded «D’amor sull’ali rosee».
Eraldo Martucci · OperaClick
Gifted with an enchanting timbre, clean high notes and pianissimi of rare quality, she gave a performance of extraordinary pathos, culminating in a spine-tingling «D’amor sull’ali rosee» greeted by an enthusiastic ovation.
Maria Agostinacchio · Le Salon Musical
-
2026
Verdi Gala
Gulnara (Il corsaro), Hélène (Jérusalem) · Festival Verdi, Teatro Regio di Parma
The young soprano confirms her remarkable gifts: a voice of gleaming colour, naturally sweet, […] yet never lacking strength, expanding into the hall well projected and rich in overtones, bending to the dynamics of legato singing and chiselling the coloratura.
Roberta Pedrotti · L’ape musicale
Alessia Panza places a solid, naturally projected instrument at the service of Verdian phrasing: the roundness of her tone and the cleanness of her coloratura are striking, as is the grit with which she handles the writing’s many sudden leaps.
Marco Faverzani, Giorgio Panigati · OperaLibera
-
2026
Un ballo in maschera
Amelia · Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
An Amelia of phenomenal projection, combining an airy line with sharply cut notes. […] The Act III aria is a masterpiece of legato.
Camillo Faverzani · Première Loge · Translated from French
The young Alessia Panza shone from start to finish: an abundant voice, yet well governed and beautifully coloured, she hits the highest and most fearsome notes with ease, and is equally moving in her mezza voce.
Roberta Manetti · Firenze Post
A great performance for its lyricism and poetry of singing – and what a beautiful timbre! – combined with leonine accents, a fearless yet controlled ascent to the top, and an incisive, clean middle register.
Il trillo parlante
-
2026
Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia · Teatro Lirico di Cagliari
A resonant voice rich in overtones, with flashing high notes more Verdian heroine than Donizetti princess: Alessia Panza offered a very Gencer-style Lucrezia, tackling the role’s dramatic passages with disarming assurance. […] The final thunderbolt alone is worth the price of the ticket.
Carlo Dore jr. · OperaClick
If Australian soprano Jessica Pratt sparkled on opening night, her colleague Alessia Panza, heard last night, was certainly no less.
Cagliaripost
-
2025
Don Giovanni
Donna Elvira · VoceAllOpera, Stresa Festival
The cast, of a good overall standard, was dominated by Alessia Panza, who as Elvira displayed an ample voice, rich in overtones and perfectly projected.
Danilo Boaretto · OperaClick
Alessia Panza’s Donna Elvira was a hurricane of passionate feeling: anger, tenderness, naïve daydreams of an impossible redemption. […] A truly remarkable performance.
Ilaria Castellazzi · Opera Mundus
A great voice, not merely a big voice; a refined interpreter, an exquisite shaper of phrases.
Il trillo parlante
-
2025
Il trovatore
Leonora · Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Auditorium di Milano
Shining in the cast is Alessia Panza’s lyrical, inspired Leonora […]. The young soprano from Brescia boasts an instrument remarkable for range, body and colour, as well as excellent musicianship.
Fabio Larovere · Connessi all’Opera
A voice with the “edge” of a true lirico-spinto, even across two octaves in a superbly controlled emission, capable both of a creamy legato and of giving real dramatic meaning to the coloratura.
Musica
Intense in her singing, apt in her accents, secure in technique, always with a light and a smile warming her voice.
Pierachille Dolfini · pierachilledolfini.it
-
2025
Tosca
Tosca · Festival Como Città della Musica
The young Alessia Panza shines with a creamy, supple, wide-ranging instrument, enveloping and soft in emission, mellow in the middle and lower registers, blazing and powerful at the top.
Stefano Balbiani · Connessi all’Opera
An exceptional Tosca: extremely clean sound, brilliant high notes always on target, security in the lower tessitura and compelling expressiveness.
Sofia Mancuso · CiaoComo
-
2025
Verdi Gala
Luisa (Luisa Miller, Act III) · Festival Verdi
Further matured in her portrayal of the character, supported by a voice of excellent schooling: healthy, ample, always on the breath and on the word. When will she get a leading role in a Festival opera?
Roberta Pedrotti · L’ape musicale
The excellent impressions are confirmed: a generous voice, with a precious blend of timbre, opening easily into the upper register.
Marco Faverzani, Giorgio Panigati · OperaLibera
-
2024
Verdi Gala
Elvira (Ernani), Amelia (Simon Boccanegra), Elisabetta (Don Carlo) · Festival Verdi, Teatro Regio di Parma
Alessia Panza’s Elvira shines: a young artist among the most promising of her generation. Her instrument, objectively important in volume and richness of overtones, expands with marked ease up to a penetrating, well-focused top.
Marco Faverzani, Giorgio Panigati · OperaLibera
-
2024
Concert with Ambrogio Maestri
LacMus Festival · Villa Melzi d’Eril, Bellagio
Panza displays a mellow, torrential voice of seductive amber hue, produced with softness and evenness, luminous and ringing at the top, supple and round in the middle and lower range.
Stefano Balbiani · Connessi all’Opera
Bookings & enquiries
Contact
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