Anna Pirozzi is included in Operawire’s top 11 singers of 2024.

≤Earlier this year, Anna Pirozzi was nominated for Best Female Singer of the Year at the Opera Awards and you could see why this great Italian soprano stood out among so many other singers. Her agility to cross from the verismo to the bel canto to the Verdi repertoire is unique and special and she remains among the only sopranos today who can do that, combining vocal beauty with dramatic force in equal measure.

Her last-minute Leonora in “La Forza del Destino” at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, which audiences got to see worldwide through OperaVision, was “spellbinding” with the soprano “bringing depth and fire to every note.” Then there was her Amelia in “Un Ballo in Maschera” at the Palau de les Arts and Gran Teatre del Liceu where she showcased “an impressive breath control and deep feeling” and “she injected the words with meaning, singing her ‘morrò’ with such genuine sadness.” That was also shown worldwide on a live stream from Valencia, giving audiences a chance to relive that unforgettable performance.

Pirozzi also displayed a range of repertoire this year with her Norma in Napoli, her role debut as Adriana Lecouvreur at the Paris Opera, and Odabella in Tokyo. There was Turandot in Torre del Lago and Zurich, Maddalena in “Andrea Chenier” in France, Aida at the Arena di Verona, “Madama Butterfly” in Tirana, and Abigaille in “Nabucco” in Vienna.

And then there was “La Gioconda” to conclude a monster year at the Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania. For that role she received praise with critics stating “Excellent Anna Pirozzi, she plays a well moulded Gioconda, between sensitivity and volition – to the point of sacrifice – throughout the opera, with an emotional peak in the warmly applauded last act scene.≥