Italian soprano Monica Piccinini has worked with Europe's top conductors of period-performance Baroque opera, appearing in many major opera houses. She has also performed music from Mozart forward and has appeared in lead roles on several recordings, often surmounting the challenges that come with encountering unknown repertory. Piccinini was born in the Italian city of Reggio Emilia. Her first musical interest was the violin, in which field she obtained a degree before switching to voice and taking lessons with Elena Kriatchko and Franca Mattiucci. Piccinini completed master classes in Baroque singing (with Rossana Bertini and Claudio Cavina) and in vocal music of the 20th century (with Erik Werba and Dorothy Dorow). From the beginning she has caught the ears of and won approval from important conductors. Her stage debut came at the Teatro Real in Madrid under the renowned Jordi Savall, and she then appeared as Valletto-Fortuna at the Teatro Colón in Salamanca, Spain, with Rinaldo Alessandrini as director, as Amore in the rarely performed La virtù degli strali d'amore of Cavalli under Fabio Biondi at the Teatro Malibran in Venice, and in Pergolesi's L'Olimpiade at the Krakow Theater under Ottavio Dantone. She has continued to work with each of these conductors in multiple productions, adding Classical-period works to her repertory (with Chiara Banchini and the U.S.-based Ensemble 415 she recorded another rarity, Boccherini's Stabat Mater). In 2007 her lead performance in Porpora's sacred Notturni per i Defunti was recorded for the Fuga Libera label, and her discography also includes several recordings on the Brilliant label, including those of music by Ravel and Dallapiccola. In the 2015-2016 season she performed at La Scala in Milan (as Domigetta) in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppeal. In 2018 Piccinini was heard in a Glossa label recording of the oratorio San Francesco de Sales by Francesco Feo, barely performed since its 1734 composition. ~ James Manheim