Ambrogio Maestri was born in Pavia where he studied singing and piano.
His sensational debut in 2001 coincided with the most important musical event of the Verdi Centennial, Falstaff, conducted by Riccardo Muti and directed by Giorgio Strehler, which saw him in the leading role at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the historic Teatro Verdi in Bussetto.
This interpretation earned him enthusiastic reviews from the international press and opened the doors of the most important opera houses in the world.
Maestri is already the king of the baritones….He knows how to unite words and music in a genial musical embrace. (The Financial Times);
Maestri is certainly one of the most exceptional baritones of our time (Wiener Zeitung);
Scopri l’eccellente Ambrogio Maestri, con la sua voce franca da baritono italiano… mi impressionò sin dall’audizione. (Riccardo Muti, Autobiografia);
C'è tutto nella sua prova: intonazione, sicurezza, bel timbro, bei fraseggi… (Corriere della Sera);
For a demonstration of dramatic naturalness and stylish bel canto singing, there was the Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri. (The New York Times).
The collaboration with Riccardo Muti lead him over the next three years to debut at the Teatro alla Scala in some of the most emblematic Verdi roles such as Iago in Otello, Renato in Un Ballo in maschera, Don Carlo di Vargas in La forza del destino and Giorgio Germont in Traviata, thereby strengthening the foundations of a constantly ascending career.
Guest of the most prestigious opera companies world-wide (Metropolitan Opera, Opera de Paris, Covent Garden, Staatsoper di Vienna, Deutsche Oper di Berlino, Maestri continues his Verdian journey performing as the Conte di Luna in Trovatore, Amonasro in Aida, Rolando in La battaglia di Legnano, and in the leading roles of Simon Boccanegra, Rigoletto and Nabucco.
Loved by the public and critics who continue to support him with the same enthusiasm as at the beginning of his career, Maestri is confirmed as one of the most acclaimed baritones on the international scene.
Ambrogio Maestri è baritono completo e di personalità, con autorità scenica, mezze voci struggenti, sarcastici portamenti, maestà del pieno suono. Quale gioia! (Il Corriere della sera);
Ambrogio Maestri è un Simone vocalmente autorevole, canta con voce intensa e profonda, disegnando con convinzione uno dei personaggi più amari, dolenti e tragicamente deboli di Verdi. (La Stampa);
His beautiful baritone voice is even throughout the range, and the ease of his singing coupled with his natural acting style resulted in an impressive performance.(The New York Times);
Una predisposizione naturale si evidenzia sul palcoscenico con l’italiano Ambrogio Maestri, a cui non si potrebbe chiedere di meglio. Con lui niente rimane insoddisfatto.(Wiener Zietung).
In a rewarding career with an abundance of roles Maestri has obviously continued to bring Falstaff to the most important stages, with Sir John becoming his true alter ego through in depth research and interpretative recitation. In fact each new production represents a challenge that enables Maestri to study and experiment unedited actors’ and voice nuances. The continuing analysis and refining of the character, also carried out by confrontation with the greatest directors and conductors , brings a wealth of new results.
Ambrogio Maestri, probably today's reigning Falstaff, has ample voice and physique for the role. His monologue about honor rises to an exciting climax.(The New York Times);
Oggi, in tutti i teatri del mondo, Ambrogio Maestri, è quanto di meglio un direttore possa desiderare per Falstaff. (Riccardo Muti, Autobiografia);
There is surely no finer exponent of the title role of Falstaff today than Ambrogio Maestri. (Musical America);
L’interpète aujourd’hui le mieux à meme d’incarner Falstaff. Il y apporte sa stature imposante, sa parfaite authenticité dans l’accent et son intelligence dans le jeu. Il sait aussi se garder des effets trop appuyés poiur imposer un chant scrupuleusement contrôlé (jusque dans les passages en falsetto, jamais vulgaire ni banal.) Un personage est bien là, devant nous, avec sa rondeur et ses bleus à l’âme, royal jusque dans la dèche. (Opèra);
Sopratutto funziona meravigliosamente il Falstaff ormai smaliziato di Ambrogio Maestri. C'è tutto nella sua prova: intonazione, sicurezza, bel timbro, bei fraseggi. Ed è l'unico cantante che permetta al pubblico di non perdere una sillaba di testo. (Il Corriere della sera);
Ambrogio Maestri is a magnificent dissolute knight, physically and vocally captivating and dominating. (Wall Street Journal);
Il baritono italiano, nel ruolo di Falstaff vince perfino il paragone con tutti i grandi... Ambrogio Maestri è in possesso di una voce gigantesca che sa condurre favolosamente, sia negli acuti sia anche nelle mezzevoci.(Kurier);
Maestri, Falstaff himself, is a miracle, now sweet, now salty, the most revealing lines of the libretto almost tossed into the air. (The Indipendent).
The ten-year collaboration with the Arena di Verona led him during the 2012 season to celebrate his one hundredth performance of another beloved opera: Aida. A significant milestone that results in a mature and complex interpretation of the character of Amonasro.
Ambrogio Maestri (Amonasro), splendida, ampia, autorevole, timbrata voce baritonale, con, finalmente, il senso e la consapevolezza della parola cantata... Verdi ringrazia. (L’Opera);
Ambrogio Maestri is physically imposing with his enormous stature and with a natural earthiness which suits Amonasro in many respects. Vocally, even and generous of tone, he gave an impressive performance. (The Opera Critic).
In these years of intense activity Maestri has been directed by the best conductors of the international scene including Zubin Mehta, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Oren, Fabio Luisi, Antonio Pappano, Jeffrey Tate, Nello Santi, Marcello Viotti, Marco Armiliato, Gianandrea Noseda, Renato Palumbo,Daniel Harding…and by directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Robert Carsen, Graham Vick, Peter Stein, Bob Wilson, Larent Pelly, Mario Martone, Hugo De Ana, Bartlett Sher...
In 2006 Maestri encountered for the first time the character of Dulcamara. The Opera de Paris, planning a new production of Elisir d’amore, wished to assign, as in the past, the role of the congenial charlatan to a baritone. The success of the performance rewarded this decision recognizing in Maestri a vocal flexibility that permits him to range from serious to buffo repertoires.
Mais le tenant du style belcantiste est le seul Ambrogio Maestri, excellent Dulcamara, truculente t jubilatoire, voix magistralment projetèe aussiì bien que retenue. Et quel acteur! (Le Monde);
Enfin l’apanage, la verve et la puissance vocale Ambrogio Maestri, véritable phénomène de présence burlesque et vedette assurément de cette distribution. (Le journal de spectacle);
Mr. Maestri's Dulcamara, a portly, rumpled giant of a man, looked eccentric enough to be believable. His voice is big, beefy and never forced; he sings with sly phrasing and droll comic timing. (New York Times);
Ambrogio Maestri brought a rich, booming baritone to the role of the conniving Doctor Dulcamara, his expert mugging winning him most of the night's few laughs.(New York Post); Juicing up the show with a humorous turn and crisp vocals is Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri as Doctor Dulcamara. (New York Daily News);
Ambrogio Maestri... sang with rich tone and put on a fine display of rapid-fire patter in his second-act duet with Nemorino. Maestri savored every syllable of the buffo role of Dulcamara, and his high notes rang out with unusual vigor. (Washington Post);
As Dulcamara, baritone Ambrogio Maestri comes off best. He seems to be singing in a different, more old-fashioned and more musically stylish show. He rattles off the quack's sales patter with buffo aplomb and whistles humorously through his teeth during his comic impersonation of an elderly senator at the wedding banquet. (Wall Street Journal);
Baritone Ambrogio Maestri was Dr. Dulcamara, a role usually sung by a bass. But his focused timbre and expert Italian delivery, not to mention his outsize comic presence -- were made to order for this part. (Variety).
In the last four years Maestri has confronted Puccini and Verismo. He debuted in Tosca at Torre del Lago, Cavalleria rusticana at the Metropolitan in New York and Pagliacci at La Scala in Milan. The choice of playing such strong and passionate characters came, not surprisingly, after a decade of experience. This stage experience in fact allows him to enhance the vehemence of his own vocal weight without losing the la linea del canto.
Il Prologo è stato superbamente cantato da Ambrogio Maestri. (Corriere della Sera);
Bravissimo Ambrogio Maestri che, voce baritonale di impressionante volume e di bellissimo colore, come non se ne ascoltano da tempo, sa anche cantare, fraseggiare, interpretare e ha dipinto un Tonio di insinuante malvagità senza essere sbracato. Harding - meno male - gli concede la svettante puntatura di tradizione al la bemolle nella chiusa del Prologo, con cui Maestri "riempie" letteralmente la sala. (L’Opera);
Ambrogio Maestri spara due acuti che non si sentivano da molto, molto tempo, e il suo Tonio, senza birignao e cachinni, è ottimo. (La Nazione);
Il baritono Ambrogio Maestri ha meritato i caldi consensi per il suo Tonio umano e pieno di sfumature malinconiche. (Il Giornale);
Ambrogio Maestri impersona alla perfezione Alfio, così come è richiesto dal libretto. (Osterreich); Face à elle un Scarpia qui devrait marquer les scènes internationales, bien qu’il ne soit pas un jeune homme, Ambrogio Maestri : voix de stentor qui sait se fait caressante et enjôleuse, présence énorme dans tous les sens du mot, jouant de sa corpulence et de sa stature comme d’une menace, arpentant son bout de scène avec un sens du temps dramatique considérable, le geste déployé avec une justesse spatiale et psychologique exemplaires. (Concert Classic);
Ambrogio Maestri est un Scarpia impressionnant tant par la taille que par la voix. (Res Musica); Stupendo, poi, il canto di Ambrogio Maestri, il quale, indossando i panni di Tonio, inonda il teatro con la sua voce ampia, sonora e morbidissima, capace di bei legati e con una proiezione del registro acuto notevolissima. (GB Opera);
Only baritone Ambrogio Maestri as Tonio received unanimous consent. (The Opera Critic); Ambrogio Maestri, Scarpia, dominava la scena sia con il portamento che con la voce: sicura, chiara e possente. (Opera).
In 2012 the director Ferzan Ozpetek, who had directed Ambrogio in Aida at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, offered him a role in his film Magnifica presenza. Playing the part of an opera singer in the forties, Ambrogio Maestri had a cinematographic experience alongside an exceptional cast, made up of some of today’s greatest Italian actors.
Verdi’s bicentennial in 2013 represents the consecration of Maestri as a reference Falstaff. He was Sir John at La Scala, at the Opèra National de Paris, at Zurich’s Opernhaus, at Salzburg’s Festival, in Munich, in Tokyo, and at the Met in New York where he celebrated his 200th performance of the role. In 2013 he also interpreted Nabucco at the Arena di Verona; Amonasro in Aida at La Scala, at the Arena di Verona, and in Tokyo; and Simon Boccanegra at Turin’s Teatro Regio.
In 2014 Ambrogio will be working on several productions such as Pagliacci in Vienna, Tosca in Barcelona, Nabucco in Munich, Othello at Turin’s Teatro Regio, Aida at Rome’s Opera. We will see his Falstaff in Amsterdam with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, in San Paolo in Brazil, and in Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colon.
He will also make his debut as Gerard in Andrea Chenièr at the Peralada Festival.
January 2014