Paolo Gavanelli makes his LA Opera debut in 2011 as Don Geronio in Il Turco in Italia. With a repertoire of over 50 roles, he has appeared in most of the leading opera houses of the world and is internationally celebrated as the leading Verdi baritone of our time. The Italian baritone is publicly and critically acclaimed in the title roles of Rigoletto, Nabucco, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra and Falstaff.

He made his professional debut in 1985 as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni at Teatro Donizetti of Bergamo in Italy. Within five years, he made debuts at the Metropolitan Opera in Il Trovatore, Teatro alla Scala in Milan in La Traviata, Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu as Valentin in Faust, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Renato in Un Ballo In Maschera, and at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice as Marcello in La Bohème.

Appearances followed at San Francisco Opera (Andrea Chenier, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, Nabucco, Simon Boccanegra) at the Arena di Verona (Aida, Rigoletto, Nabucco, Macbeth, Un Ballo in Maschera, Cavalleria Rusticana, Madama Butterfly) the Opera National de Paris Bastille (Rigoletto, Nabucco, Lucia di Lammermoor) the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Otello, Simone Boccanegra, Falstaff, Rigoletto, La Traviata), the Metropolitan Opera in New York (I Puritani, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera, Cavalleria Rusticana/ Pagliacci, Aida, La Bohème) the New National Theatre of Tokyo (Nabucco, Un Ballo in Maschera, Andrea Chénier), Vienna State (Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Don Carlos, Un Ballo In Maschera, Rigoletto, Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci, Lucia di Lammermoor, Andrea Chénier, La Bohème) and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Nabucco, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Un Ballo in Maschera, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Lucia di Lammermoor, I Puritani).

In Italy, Mr Gavanelli has appeared at La Scala in Milan (Attila, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly) and in Florence, Rome, Genoa, Turin and Naples. In Spain he has performed frequently in Bilbao (Rigoletto, Nabucco, Macbeth, Otello, La Traviata, Il Barbiere di Siviglia), and at the Santander Festival he sang Rigoletto, Tosca and Aida.

Paolo Gavanelli can be heard on CD recordings of Nabucco, La Bohème, Beatrice di Tenda, Jerusalem, Alzira and Poliuto. His performance in his signature role of Rigoletto, in a new production by David McVicar for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, was committed to DVD by the BBC in 2001, and the production was awarded the Diapason Prize in 2002 as Best DVD of the year. It also achieved the status of bestselling opera DVD of the year.

Recent successes have included a revival of Rigoletto at Hamburg's State Opera, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at Berlin's Deutsche Oper, where he also debuted the role of Michele in a new production of Il Tabarro. At the Bavarian State Opera in Munich he appeared as Miller in Luisa Miller as well as in revivals of Rigoletto and Roberto Devereux, Falstaff, I Puritani and Don Carlo. At Dresden's State Opera he appeared in Nabucco and Beatrice di Tenda, and he returned to Vienna State Opera as Rigoletto. At Amsterdam's Concertgebouw he sang the role of Ezio in Attila, and he appeared with great success as Dulcamara in L'Elisir d'Amore in the new Laurent/Pelly production at Covent Garden and as Scarpia in Tosca. Other appearances include a return to London as Don Pasquale and to San Francisco Opera in the roles of Gianni Schicchi and Michele in Il Trittico.