Marco Rizzello is a pianist and opera coach from Mercato Saraceno, Italy.

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A recent graduate of the Butler Studio at the Houston Grand Opera, Marco Rizzello will soon join the full-time music staff at the Staatsoper in Stuttgart, Germany, for the upcoming 2024/25 season. During Houston Grand Opera’s 2023/24 season, he served as coach and part of the music staff for mainstage operas Intelligence (world premiere), Madama Butterfly, Don Giovanni and appeared with Butler Studio singers in recital and other performances.

His summer 2024 engagements include contracts as a Diction Coach for La Traviata and Don Giovanni with Santa Fe Opera in June and as a Staff Pianist for the Ravinia Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival in August.

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After starting his music studies at a very young age - under the guidance of his mother - Marco made his first important public appearance at thirteen years of age, selected by RAI - Italian Radio and Television to perform at the Arturo Toscanini Auditorium in Turin as a guest on the TV program “ll gran concerto.” A prizewinner in many piano competitions, Rizzello made his New York debut in January 2023, playing at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at New York classical music station WQXR.

In the course of his career, he has performed extensively both as a soloist and as a collaborative pianist in Italy, the United States, Austria, Slovenia, France, The Netherlands and Denmark. Past highlights include being a coaching fellow at Wolf Trap Opera 2023 -  where he served on the music staff for Don Giovanni and played in recital with Steven Blier for Night and Day USA. 

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Rizzello has performed in prestigious venues such as the Art Song Festival in Cleveland, the Settimane Musicali at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, the Piano Echos Festival and the Aspen Music Festival 2022, where he served as a rehearsal pianist for Falstaff under the baton of Patrick Summers. During the 2022/23 season, he served on the staff at NYU Steinhardt and worked as a coach at the Manhattan School of Music. In addition, he has been an alumnus of the Georg Solti Accademia 2023 and performed at the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice. 

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Specialized in the vocal repertoire, Rizzello has worked alongside some of today’s best conductors, directors and performers including names such as Dame Jane Glover, Patrick Summers, Corrado Rovaris, Harry Bicket, Richard Bado, Kwamé Ryan, Bruno Praticò, Catherine Malfitano, Silvio Castiglioni, Gabriella Morigi, Luca Grassi, Manlio Benzi. He has worked alongside renowned voice pedagogues including Dr. Stephen King, Joan Patenaude – Yarnell, Anna Vandi, Shirley Close and he has  accompanied masterclasses of major artists such as Renée Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Matthew Rose, Christine Goerke and Ryan McKinny.

 

Marco is a polyglot. In addition to being a native Italian speaker, he speaks English, German, French, and Russian.

 

Rizzello studied at the "Gioachino Rossini" Conservatory in Pesaro, the International Piano Academy in Imola, and the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He studied solo repertoire with Giorgio Farina, Giovanni Valentini, Marlies Van Gent and Boris Petrushansky, and opera coaching with Ubaldo Fabbri, Warren Jones, and Thomas Lausmann.

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In his free time, Marco enjoys reading books, watching movies and Japanese anime, listening to culture podcasts, practicing his Romagnolo dialect and trying out new cooking recipes (despite being a terrible cook). He also loves animals and his family in Italy has 15 cats and a dog named Molly.