ABF Masterclass in Advanced Opera Singing

She sat down at the piano for the first time at the age of four, and by the age of eleven she was already performing on stage with a symphony orchestra. In a career spanning more than thirty years, she has performed on every continent, in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Cadogan Hall in London, Kioi Hall in Tokyo and the Arena di Verona, as well as travelling to remote and unusual places around the world to bring music beyond borders – from the experimental city of Auroville in India to Easter Island, the Rocinha Favela in Rio de Janeiro and the townships of Cape Town in South Africa – without ever losing sight of her social commitment.

Born in Veneto in 1986, Gloria Campaner is considered one of the most versatile and eclectic pianists of her generation, experimenting with new languages and interactions between classical music and other art forms: fusions with jazz (she has collaborated with Stefano Bollani, Leszek Mozdzer and Franco D’Andrea), electronic music (Alioscia Bisceglia of Casino Royale, Boosta of Subsonica), contemporary dance and even sculpture (she has played the “sound stones” of and with Pinuccio Sciola) and literature (the project dedicated to Beethoven with Alessandro Baricco and the Canova Chamber Orchestra staged at the Arena di Verona and the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara and streamed to all schools in Italy). He has recorded for EMI, Warner Classics and Sony Music.

Recently, however, in the midst of a globetrotting career, he decided to suspend his concert activities indefinitely. Not to stop, but to explore new languages and a new way of “serving music”. Or rather, musicians. This led to the creation of the “C# See Sharp” project, which trains young talents to look inside themselves and “look beyond”, to overcome their fears, express their creativity and focus their emotions. Now Gloria has an additional skill to offer, that of performing coach. “I experienced anxiety and vertigo before going on stage, I didn’t know who to ask for help. We have to deal with managing emotions in classical music too”. The training is designed for artistic talents, but is good for anyone who has to face any kind of public performance. So much so that she regularly holds seminars and masterclasses all over the world.

Always with a view to acquiring new skills and experiences related to the world of entertainment, Gloria Campaner is taking an interest in opera directing, stage management and musical theatre in general. Already artistic director of the MAP Festival in Taranto, the Bellini Association in Messina and the Friuli festival “Nei Suoni dei luoghi”, in 2024, together with Nicola Campogrande, she created “Seven Springs – Il suono della Holden”, the first musical adventure of the Holden School in Turin.

Serena Gamberoni began studying music at a very young age, first as a violinist and later as a singer.

She attended several masterclasses with Franca Mattiucci, Luigi Alva, Renato Bruson, Piero Cappuccilli, Maria Chiara, Ghena Dimitrova and Gabriella Tucci. A pupil of soprano Alida Ferrarini, she then studied with Raina Kabaivanska, Lella Cuberli and Gabriella Ravazzi.

In 2000, she gave her first concert and made her opera debut as Zerlina. In 2004, she won the ASLICO European Competition for the roles of Adina in L’elisir d’amore and Sophie in Werther. She made her debut at a very young age at the Teatro Carlo Felice, first as Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore, then returning in subsequent years as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Norina in Don Pasquale, Mimì in La bohème, Micaela in Carmen and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.

She opened the 2006/2007 season at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples as Nannetta in Falstaff conducted by Jeffrey Tate and subsequently made her debut in the most prestigious Italian theatres (Turin, Bologna, Parma, Arena di Verona) in operas such as L’Elisir d’amore, Così fan tutte, Don Pasquale, Die Zauberflöte, Un ballo in maschera, La Bohème, Falstaff, Romeo et Juliette, and Gianni Schicchi, also recording Orphée et Eurydice alongside Roberto Alagna in a new production at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna. She made her debut at La Scala and Covent Garden in new productions of Un ballo in maschera, which she will also sing at the Rome Opera and La Fenice for the opening of the 2017 season conducted by Myung Whun Chung before returning to Covent Garden for a new Così fan tutte, which was then revived several times in subsequent years.

The year 2019 sees her starring as a Mozartian performer first at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and then under the baton of Riccardo Muti in the role of the Contessa, before tackling new debuts as Alice in Falstaff in the Emiliano Circuit.

She performed several concerts via livestream during the pandemic, participating in a project on Dante for Sky and several evenings for the Teatro Carlo Felice.

She took part in the Rai-sponsored film project on Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci in the role of Nedda with a pilot project using augmented reality. Her recent and future engagements include Simon Boccanegra at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Così fan tutte at the Royal Opera House in London and the New National Theatre in Tokyo, Mimì at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Fedora in a new production at La Scala directed by Mario Martone, La Rondine with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Tony Pappano, and a new production at the Teatro alla Scala of “Opera Seria”, which will also be performed at the Theater an der Wien in 2026. Since March 2021, she has been involved in training and has held the role of teacher and coordinator at the Accademia del Teatro Carlo Felice. Since 2022, she has been the artistic director of the Global Lab programme, which provides training and masterclasses for the ABF (Andrea Bocelli Foundation).

In 2023, she was invited first as a teacher at the Wexford Opera Academy and immediately afterwards at the Royal College of London, where she will return in subsequent years.

Since 2024, she has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Macerata Opera Festival. Also in October 2024, she was invited as a speaker at the 5th Conference on Theatre Language Teaching in Madrid. In 2025, she also taught at the Accademia di Alto Perfezionamento in Modena.

Davide Cavalli began studying piano with Alfredo Speranza, graduating with honours from the Luisa D’Annunzio Conservatory in Pescara. He then attended advanced courses with Edith Fischer, Robert Szidon, Aquiles Delle Vigne and Pier Narciso Masi, and obtained, with top marks and honours, second level academic diplomas in musical disciplines in Roberto Cappello’s piano class and Pierpaolo Maurizzi’s chamber music class, as well as a two-year teacher training course for piano teaching qualification at the Arrigo Boito Conservatory in Parma.

He has performed as a soloist and in chamber ensembles at prestigious musical institutions such as the Odessa Philharmonic Society, the Hindemith Foundation in Blonay, the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, the Conservatoire de Genève, the Conservatorio di Milano, the Festival della Valle d’Itria, the Conservatorio di Città Reale, the Schubert Club in Saint Paul and the University of Minnesota. He has also given concerts at the Église de Saanen and the Auditorium Kirchgemeindehaus in Gstaadt, the Tel Aviv Opera House, the Etihad Museum in Dubai, the Eglise Saint Marc in Brussels, the Salle des Arts in Paris, the Sala Joaquín Turina in Seville, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Teatro Municipale in Piacenza, the Teatro Regio

and the Auditorium Paganini in Parma, the Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna, the Palacultura in Messina, in

Prague, Barcelona, Des Moines (Iowa), Milwaukee and Philadelphia. As part of the Internationales Kammermusik Festival Austria, he recorded Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Suites for Piano Duo for Austrian radio and television (ORF) at the Stift Altenburg Bibliothek.

He is the overall winner of the Seiler Piano Competition in Crete, the Frédéric Chopin Competition in Rome and the Camillo Togni Competition in Brescia. He has also won first prize in numerous national piano competitions.

She is very active in musical theatre, collaborating with the Salzburg Festival, the Ravenna Festival, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and the Festival Verdi in Parma, directed by Riccardo Muti, Patrick Fournillier, Ottavio Dantone, Andrea Battistoni, Antonio Greco, Nicola Paszkowski, Stefano Montanari, and Maurizio Zanini, and with directors Graham Vick, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Cristina Mazzavillani Muti, Micha van Hoecke, Chiara Muti, Shirin Neshat, Cesare Lievi, Emilio Sagi, Michele Mirabella, and Andrea De Rosa.

He regularly collaborates with the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra and has participated in tours of Saverio Mercadante’s I Due Figaro at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Il Trovatore at the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman, Rigoletto at the Bahrain National Theatre, Falstaff and Macbeth at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland, and the Le vie dell’Amicizia concerts conducted by Riccardo Muti in Kiev, Tehran, Athens and Yerevan. Since 2008, he has participated as rehearsal conductor in the Autumn Trilogies organised by the Ravenna Festival and staged at the Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna, directed by Cristina Mazzavillani Muti. In 2012, again as rehearsal conductor, he participated in the production of La Battaglia di Legnano as part of the Verdi Festival at the Teatro Regio in Parma, directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi.

On the occasion of the bicentenary celebrations of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth, he participated in the project Echi notturni di incanti verdiani (Night echoes of Verdi’s enchantments) in collaboration with Rai 1, at the Maestro’s birthplace in Roncole di Busseto, creating the musical arrangement for the death scenes of the heroines of the popular trilogy. In 2014, he took part in the production of Giacomo Puccini’s Manon Lescaut conducted by Riccardo Muti with Anna Netrebko and Yousif Eyvazov in the leading roles at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome as substitute conductor. On 19 December 2014, on the tenth anniversary of Renata Tebaldi’s death, he performed Gioachino Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle in the Basilica of San Marino. In 2015 and 2017, he was substitute conductor in the productions of Giuseppe Verdi’s Ernani and Aida at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Riccardo Muti. The cast of Aida included Anna Netrebko, Francesco Meli, Ekaterina Semenchuk and Luca Salsi in the leading roles. Since 2015, he has been pianist at the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy.

In 2019, together with Francesco Meli, he performed in Rome at Palazzo Madama, in the Senato & Cultura cycle on the occasion of the lifetime achievement award presented to Franco Zeffirelli by the President of the Senate. Together with baritone Luca Micheletti, in the presence of the President of the Republic, he performed Gaetano Donizetti’s Il Conte Ugolino in Ravenna, at the opening of the celebrations for the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death. In the 2020/2021 seasons, he performed in recitals at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Tel Aviv Opera House, Palazzo Farnese in Piacenza and the Etihad Museum in Dubai together with Francesco Meli, Luca Salsi, Serena Gamberoni and violinist Laura Marzadori, first violin of the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He is the musical director of the 2022 edition of the Advanced Academy for Opera Singers at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. He teaches piano at the Liceo Musicale Antonio Canova in Forlì. Finally, he claims to have a good knowledge of French and a basic knowledge of English.