Tenore & Maestro
From Covent Garden to the Seoul Arts Center, from the Arena di Verona to Opera Hong Kong, his voice carried the great Italian school across four continents. Today he passes it on to a new generation.
The Old School of Singing®
Masterclasses and lessons in the Monsalve Leyton Method: the García, Melocchi and Campogalliani traditions, handed down first-hand from teacher to student. Join the mailing list to hear first about new masterclasses and courses.
Videos
Watch the complete opera, filmed live, then explore more performances: Tosca, Carmen, Aida and more, plus television appearances and the Carmen cinema broadcast from Taormina.
The lineage
Monsalve’s technique was not learned from books. It was handed down, person to person, from the schools that produced Mario Del Monaco, Franco Corelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Renata Tebaldi and Mirella Freni. Follow each line to see how every teacher connects to him.
Bel canto · the foundation of modern technique
Nora Lopez Von Vriessen
Chilean Soprano former student of the Legendary Sopranos Gina Cigna and Maria Caniglia.
Monsalve studied with Lopez Von Vriessen in Vina del Mar and Santiago, Chile from the 2001 till 2003
Giancarlo Monsalve Viña del Mar & Santiago · 2001–2003
First steps · Viña del Mar
Mario Barrientos
Chilean Tenor former student of the Tenor Carlos Santelices.
Monsalve studied with Barrientos in Vina Del Mar, Chile in 2002 and 2003
Giancarlo Monsalve Viña del Mar · 2002–2003
Breath · space · musical intelligence
Mirella Freni
Italian Soprano former student of Ettore Campogalliani
"Campogalliani was also teacher of Renata Tebaldi, Luciano Pavarotti, Renata Scotto, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Ruggero Raimondi"
Monsalve studied with Freni in her academy in Emilia Romagna, Italy, giving him the first Nicolai Ghiaurov Scholarship in 2004 and 2005
Giancarlo Monsalve Emilia-Romagna · 2004–2005
Pisa & Tuscany · 2006–2007
Dano Raffanti
Italian Tenor former student of the famous musicologist, critic and voice teacher Rodolfo Celletti.
Monsalve studied with Raffanti in Pisa, Italy from 2006 until 2007.
Giancarlo Monsalve Pisa · 2006–2007
Lando Bartolini
Italian Tenor former student of the MET Bass Nicola Moscona.
Monsalve studied with Bartolini in Tuscany, Italy in 2007.
Giancarlo Monsalve Tuscany · 2007
Dramatic power · open throat · affondo
Giancarlo Del Monaco
Italian Regisseur, son of the legendary Tenor Mario Del Monaco.
(This is a special mention); In 2008 Giancarlo Del Monaco heard Monsalve in his debut of Luisa Miller in Leipzig, Germany.
After that G. Del Monaco decided to give Monsalve a few tips with some of the secrets of his father and strongly adviced Monsalve to study with Leodino Ferri and follow the Melocchi school that made his father one of the bigest Tenors in history.
Giancarlo Monsalve Leipzig · 2008
Leodino Ferri
Italian Bass. One of the last direct former students of Maestro Arturo Melocchi.
Monsalve learned the Melocchi method with Ferri in Rome, Italy in 2009.
Giancarlo Monsalve Rome · 2009
Fiato · breathing support
Montserrat Caballé
Spanish Soprano, former student of the Wagnerian Singer Eugenia Kemeny who has teached her the superb "Fiato" technique that made her famous in the world.
Monsalve studied with Caballé in a Masterclass in Zaragoza, Spain in 2009.
Giancarlo Monsalve Masterclass in Zaragoza · 2009
The tenors of Mario & Marcello Del Monaco
Nicola Martinucci
Italian Tenor former student of Marcello Del Monaco.
Monsalve studied with Martinucci in Rome, Milan and Taranto, Italy from 2009 until 2015.
Giancarlo Monsalve Rome, Milan & Taranto · 2009–2015
Corneliu Murgu
Romanian Tenor former student of Marcello Del Monaco
Monsalve studied with Murgu in Timisoara, Romania in 2010 between his performances of Tosca.
Giancarlo Monsalve Timișoara · 2010
Gianfranco Cecchele
Italian Tenor former student of Mario and Marcello Del Monaco
Monsalve studied with Cecchele in Galliera Veneta, Italy in 2011, between his performances in ROH in London and Arena di Verona.
Giancarlo Monsalve Galliera Veneta · 2011
Giancarlo Monsalve
Every line leads to one voice
Repertoire
Highlights from his nineteen leading roles of the lirico spinto and dramatic repertoire, and what the press wrote about them.
An Otello that makes history
Monsalve collects the expressive force of some reference Otellos to draw his own: the animality and torment of a Ramón Vinay, the strength and sonorous brilliance of a Mario Del Monaco (with that steady emission and blade-cutting sonorous top) and the scenic ductility of a Plácido Domingo.
Toda la Cultura
A heroic version of Nessun dorma
The pièce de résistance arrived with Chilean tenor Giancarlo Monsalve standing at the roof of the opera house, belting out a heroic version of Nessun dorma.
The National
Brilliant high notes
With a voice as thick as a baritone and brilliant high notes, appreciated by worldwide opera experts, tenor Giancarlo Monsalve was the most beloved.
Jung Culture Magazine
Precious mezze voci
The Don José of the young Chilean tenor Giancarlo Monsalve, a voice of strength built on a technique acquired from the Italian traditional school (Del Monaco, Cecchele, Corelli), but capable of precious mezze voci in the spirit of the character, correct and responsive to the writing, as in the closing of the romance “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée”.
I Vespri
Lyrical pathos
Giancarlo Monsalve, in the role of Cavaradossi, dominated the scene and reached the lyrical pathos in the long-awaited and long-applauded “E lucevan le stelle”.
Scrissi d’Arte
Big voice, fine actor
It is not very common for a tenor to sing the main parts (Turiddu and Canio) in both operas on the same night. Yet this is exactly what tenor Giancarlo Monsalve did. Monsalve has a fine big voice, a very handsome presence and is a fine actor.
The Malta Independent
Undoubtedly a burnished and brilliant voice
In Cavalleria the Chilean tenor Giancarlo Monsalve made his debut in Bologna in the role of Turiddu, with beautiful stage presence. No doubt he has high-quality material, good stage instincts, and the role of the passionate Latin lover fits him like a glove. Undoubtedly a burnished and brilliant voice.
Teatro.it
Intense and passionate interpretation
Manrico, the troubadour, gives no respite to his genuine love for Leonora, and with an intense and passionate interpretation the Chilean tenor Giancarlo Monsalve kept the audience attentive to his story from beginning to end.
Toda la Cultura
Monsalve braves the curse
Chilean tenor Giancarlo Monsalve braves the “curse” to play Don Álvaro. Monsalve thrives, particularly in his soul-tortured aria “La vita è inferno… O tu che in seno agli angeli”.
DC Metro Theater Arts
Stentorian top
The debut of the tenor Giancarlo Monsalve was very welcome. With good presence, his rich harmonic instrument, of beautiful spinto timbre, shone above all in the central register, warm and round, and stentorian at the top.
L’Opera Magazine
Beautiful Italian singing
Beautiful Italian singing by the Chilean tenor Giancarlo Monsalve in the title role of Don Carlo.
Rzeczpospolita
The admirable technique of Monsalve
A technique from the old school that allows him to support his vocal emission firmly and build a vibrant, ample, safe sound that runs with brightness, despite its natural dark baritonal accents. This is a true spinto tenor, from a good school, with timbral flashes of singers such as Mario Del Monaco, and with full awareness of his instrument and what he can achieve with it, giving him a personal identity that seeks no imitation.
Pro Opera, Mexico
Ringing spinto tenor voice
The Chilean tenor Giancarlo Monsalve, as a rebellious hothead Rodolfo, shone with his ringing spinto tenor voice in an exciting and passionate musical interpretation.
Recklinghäuser Zeitung
Biography
Born in Valparaíso, Chile, Giancarlo Monsalve debuted at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in 2006 and went on to sing the central spinto roles at the Royal Opera House, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Arena di Verona, the Dallas Opera, the Seoul Arts Center and many more. In 2010 Chile named him Cultural Ambassador.
On stage
Riccardo Muti, Carlo Rizzi, Paolo Carignani, Xian Zhang, Patrick Fournillier, Yves Abel, Antonello Allemandi, Oleg Caetani, Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Frank Beermann, Jean-Yves Ossonce, Julian Kovatchev, Nayden Todorov, Carlo Montanaro.
Francesca Zambello, Liliana Cavani, Hugo De Ana, Peter Konwitschny, Giancarlo Del Monaco, Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, Stephen Langridge, Gianfranco de Bosio, Lorenzo Mariani, Jean-Romain Vesperini, Carlos Wagner, Garnett Bruce, Gianni Quaranta, Alberto Triola, Mario de Carlo.
Press
Monsalve, as Mario Cavaradossi, frequently struck gold.
A full-throated and testosterone-laden Don José in the tradition of singers like Mario del Monaco.
A strong, virile, bronze-like tenor with high Italianate coloring in abundance.
Excellent the Cavaradossi of Giancarlo Monsalve; large and powerful voice, balanced and supported with expertise.
His voice is rounded and full, his performance emotive yet real.
Sung with matching vocal power and a strapping stage presence.
Honours
Named Cultural Ambassador by the Government of Chile and the city of Valparaíso, with the UNESCO Medal. More about this
Carmen from the Teatro Antico di Taormina, with Monsalve as Don José, broadcast live in cinemas across Europe, then worldwide.
35th Mascagni d’Oro, awarded by the Mascagnian Committee of Bagnara di Romagna.
Nominated for Maria Callas Artist of the Year by BroadwayWorld and The Dallas Opera, for his Cavaradossi.
Media
Teaching
In 2020 he founded The Old School of Singing® to pass on the García, Melocchi and Campogalliani traditions through the Monsalve Leyton Method, with masterclasses in Italy, Germany and Spain.
Contact
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