Elena Bresciani - English Bio
“Elena Bresciani (…) has a reassuring and profound voice — one of those rare voices that can carry you to a world beyond the everyday. A voice so rich in nuance that it becomes utterly irresistible. And indeed, it is more than just a voice: it is vibration. It is presence. (…) Even in the silences, something continues to resonate.” - Assunta Corbo, NEWS 48 https://www.news48.it/vibralchimie-la-ricerca-di-elena-bresciani-tra-rigore-fede-e-fisica-del-suono/
Italian mezzo-soprano Elena Bresciani has established herself as a multifaceted artist whose career spans opera, chamber music, contemporary repertoire, and research. Recognised by leading media including Radio Svizzera Italiana, Corriere della Sera, Classic Voice, Amadeus, and Vanity Fair, she has been described as “one of Italy’s finest vocal coaches” and a “magnificent character interpreter.”
In the 2025/26 season, she will appear as a guest artist and jury member at the International Prize Bruno Bottiroli. She will perform Madame de Croissy in Dialogues des Carmélites in Bergamo and Dama Pluche in Gnecchi’s La Rosierain Bergamo and at Sala Verdi in Milan. In the sacred repertoire, she has also performed as alto in Donizetti’s Parafrasi del Christus. Regarding her performance as Dama Pluche in the rare opera by Vittorio Gnecchi, Connessi all’Operawrote: “Excellent was the performance of Elena Bresciani as Dame Plüche: the mezzo-soprano displayed a richly colored voice, with a solid and well-supported lower register, enhanced by attentive and effective acting.”
Her international career has taken her from the Vatican to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, as well as to major European stages including Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, Sala Verdi in Milan, Teatro Bibiena in Mantua, and appearances in Oxford, Cambridge, Monte Carlo, Tirana, and across Italy’s leading festivals, including the Pergolesi-Spontini Festival and the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte in Montepulciano.
A specialist in chamber music and 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, Bresciani has championed works by Casella, Respighi, Gavazzeni, Martucci, Messiaen, Britten, Alfano, Weill, Tosti, Mascagni, Villa-Lobos, Poulenc, and Barber, among others. She has given numerous world premieres and collaborated closely with living composers including Stefano Ghisleri, Luca Tessadrelli, and Luciano Di Giandomenico. Among the contemporary works written for or premiered by her are Pleiadi and Missa Brevis (Ghisleri), Eliot’s Cantata (Tessadrelli), and Chiuso nel centro Orfeo (Di Giandomenico). Her crossover explorations include original compositions such as Navigando per mari in Sol, released internationally in 2024.
Her operatic repertoire includes Suzuki in Madama Butterfly (notably in the historic production at Teatro Comunale di Bologna directed by Fabio Ceresa), Fenena in Nabucco, Eboli in Don Carlo, Adalgisa in Norma, Laura in La Gioconda, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Maddalena and Giovanna in Rigoletto, Flora in La Traviata, Madame de Croissy in Dialogues des Carmélites, Beppe in L’amico Fritz, Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana, Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Florence Pike in Britten’s Albert Herring, Celia Peachum in Weill’s Die Dreigroschenoper, as well as roles in Casella’s La favola di Orfeo and Gnecchi’s La Rosiera.
Earlier in her career, she performed as a soprano, appearing as Violetta (La Traviata), Mimì (La bohème), Liù (Turandot), Desdemona (Otello), and Margherita (Mefistofele), before transitioning to the mezzo-soprano repertoire under the guidance of Fiorenza Cedolins. Her vocal range, extending from F2 to D5, allows her to traverse soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto registers with rare versatility.
On the concert platform, she has appeared in Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi, Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Été, Respighi’s Il Tramonto, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, the Requiems of Verdi, Mozart, and Donizetti, and Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 at Carnegie Hall. She has collaborated with conductors including Fabrizio Maria Carminati, Roland Böer, and Nathalie Marin, and shared the stage with artists such as Anna Pirozzi, Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni, Fiorenza Cedolins, and Franco Vassallo.
A prizewinner in numerous international competitions, she received the J. S. Mayr Prize at the Donizetti Conservatory, Third Prize at the Pelizzoni International Competition (Parma), and multiple special prizes at the International Opera Competition “Capriolo in Franciacorta” and the International Opera Competition City of Brescia, where she was awarded Best Mezzo-Soprano by a jury chaired by the legendary mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto. As a child, she was recognised by the International Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Festival and appeared in the “Voci Verdiane” series under the patronage of Giulietta Simionato in Milan.
Her discography includes Donizetti’s Il Campanello (Bongiovanni), Gnecchi’s La Rosiera (Bongiovanni, 2026), her original composition Navigando per mari in Sol, Vibralchimie Vol. 1 with guitarist Renato Caruso, Elena sings Hildegard (music by Hildegard von Bingen), and the forthcoming 2026 project Cantico delle Creature.
Beyond performance, Bresciani is Founder and CEO of the research project Vibralchimie, which explores the relationship between voice, spirituality, and well-being through the integration of Tibetan and crystal singing bowl frequencies into vocal technique. Her book Song of Well-being and Inner Vibralchimie, co-authored with guitarist Renato Caruso, was presented at Cremona Musica 2024. The project has also been featured at Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna at the invitation of phoniatrician Franco Fussi. In December 2025, she was received in private audience by Pope Leo XIV in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican following her participation as vocal coach in the Christmas Concert broadcast on Canale 5.
Upcoming engagements include Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera and Sara in Roberto Devereux in 2026.
A graduate in Literature from the University of Milan, she holds diplomas in Vocal Performance from the Donizetti Conservatory of Bergamo and Trinity College of Music London, where she was awarded a Fellowship in Voice Performance. She further specialised in Theatre Education at the Catholic University of Milan and in Spiritual Theology at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy. Alongside her performing career, she is an internationally active vocal coach whose students have distinguished themselves in major opera houses and competitions. Her studio is an official examination centre for Trinity College London.
Last update Feb. 2026
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