VALERIA LA GROTTA

After graduating in Opera Singing with honors and special recognition at Conservatoire “N. Piccinni” in Bari, Valeria La Grotta specialized in Renaissance and Baroque Singing at Conservatoire “B. Maderna” in Cesena studying with Roberta Invernizzi. She perfects her skills with Lucrezia Messa, attending masterclasses with Rinaldo Alessandrini, Marina De Liso, Paoletta Marrocu, Sergio Foresti, and Roberto Balconi. She also earns II Level Master’s degree in Early Music at Conservatoire “S. Pietro a Majella” in Naples with Antonio Florio, combining her artisticactivities with musicological research.

She made her debuts in: Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Drusilla) at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with Le Banquet Céleste; Pergolesi’s The Gold of Naples with Ottavio Dantone and the Accademia Bizantina at George Enescu Festival in Bucharest; Vivaldi’s Serenata RV 690 (Eurilla) at Wigmore Hall in London; Vivaldi’s Bajazet (Idaspe) at Teatro La Fenice conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli and directed by Fabio Ceresa; Lully’s Acis et Galatée (Scylla) at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade (Aminta) at Piccolo Teatro in Milan; Lully’s Le Carnaval, Mascarade Royale, in its modern-time première at Teatro Comunale in Ferrara; Paisiello’s Astrologi immaginari (Clarice) at Thèâtre Municipal de Moulins with Martin Gester; Jacopo Melani’s Ercole in Tebe (Iole) at Teatro della Pergola; Pietro Auletta’s L’Orazio (Giacomina) for the 49th Edition of the Festival della Valle d’Itria.

She also performed at: Ravello Festival in Purcell’s Dido and Æneas with Cappella Neapolitana; Musikamera Festival at Teatro La Fenice with Simone Vallerotonda & I Bassifondi in A. Scarlatti’s première of Clori, Lidia e Filli; Stanford University (California) with Stefano Aresi & Ensemble Stile Galante; Monteverdi Festival with Modo Antiquo in Missa in illo tempore; Valletta Baroque Festival; Vilnius Early Music Festival; Festival de Ribeauvillé in Charpentier’s Te Deum and Handel’s Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day with Le Parlement de Musique; Festival de Música Antigua de Sevilla; Amia-Alsace in Strasbourg; Antiqua Festival Bozen; Victoria International Arts Festival in Malta.

In June 2026 she inaugurated the “International Handel Society – Italy” with Handel’s Armida abbandonata at Teatro Niccolini in Florence.

Highlighted discography includes: Prima d’esservi infedele — unpublished cantatas for two violins by A. Scarlatti (Arcana); Vivaldi’s La Costanza trionfante (Passacaille); Venere e Marte by A. Farina (Glaux); Le Tragedie Cristiane by Annibale Marchese (Passacaille); La Flora by Marco da Gagliano (Glossa); Olimpia abbandonata & other Cantatas by L. Vinci (Elegia-Classics); and La Serva padrona by G. Paisiello (Bongiovanni). In 2024, she published the critical edition of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Thirteen Unpublished Cantatas for Soprano, Two Violins, and Basso Continuo (Turchini Edizioni).

She currently teaches Baroque Singing in Corsi di Perfezionamento at Scuola di Musica in Fiesole.

Season 2026/2027

Soprano Valeria La Grotta captivates with her charming timbre, enriched by a beautiful roundness, and finely conveys the adventures of the imprudent Phaethon or the torments of love, while maintaining close attention to the text"
Philippe Ramin, Classica

"Valeria La Grotta excels in sparkling ornamental runs (Hai sete di sangue) and she captures exactly the rhythmically bobbing waves implied by the ship that loses its star (È ver la navicella)."
Anthony Pryer, BBC Music Magazine

"Valeria La Grotta’s purling musicality, precise agility in quick passages and articulate poeticism are matched by musicological inquisitiveness - she edited the performance material from manuscript sources"
Davide Vickers, Gramophone

"The anguish with which Valeria La Grotta approaches Olimpia abbandonata by Netti is spinechilling"
Mariano Acero Ruilópez - Scherzo

"With her piquant timbre, Valeria La Grotta portrays a nymph alternately in love and sorrowful, a lover disarmed or furious, and the cruel temptress. The score’s melismas, sometimes very long, never disrupt the poetic line of “Quando cadde l'incauto Fetonte” in “Nella stagione appunto”. The soprano has no need to overemphasize the intentions, engaging in dialogue with a skilful quartet, particularly its violinists"
Adrien Cauchie, Diapason

"Valeria La Grotta has the task of opening the opera with the famous hendecasyllabic lines sung by La Musica. She does so with lightness, effortlessly displaying the substantial technical resources needed to impress the audience. She returns in Euridice’s brief lament, which she renders with desperate tenderness"
Daniela Goldoni, Opera Click

"Soprano Valeria La Grotta’s performance as Idaspe produced the evening’s most exciting presentation of an aria with her stunning rendition of “Anche il mar par che sommerga,” in which she lit up the theater with her complex coloratura runs. Her performance was consistently strong, and her beautiful upper register impressed as did her vocal agility and ability to mould her singing to bring out the emotional force of the arias. She was also attentive to the demands of the recitatives, which were delivered clearly and animatedly"
Alain Nelson, Operawire

"The soprano Valeria La Grotta, who unfortunately could not fully display her acting potential within the TCE format, was particularly compelling in the scene of Drusilla’s arrest (II,2), whose lament recalls those of Orpheus in Monteverdi’s first work"
AdminJK, Baroquiades

"Valeria La Grotta’s Arbace is very graceful, with precise intonation and elegant coloratura in the opening aria"
Andrea Poli, Opera Libera