Valentino Buzza was born in Catania, where he graduated from the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory in 2008. He subsequently attended masterclasses with, among others, Leone Magiera, Edda Moser and Renato Bruson.
He won several international singing competitions, including the “Luciano Pavarotti Prize” of the Marcello Giordani Foundation (2016) and the First Prize at the “Tito Schipa” Opera Competition (2012), before joining the Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo (Palau de les Arts Opera Studio) in Valencia. There, he appeared in numerous productions, including La Bohème (Rodolfo) under Riccardo Chailly, Così fan tutte (Ferrando) conducted by Marco Guidarini, La Traviata (Giuseppe) and Turandot (Pang), both under Zubin Mehta, as well as Simon Boccanegra (Capitano dei balestrieri) under Evelino Pidò, alongside Plácido Domingo in the title role.
Valentino played the title role of Orfeo in the film The Opera! by Davide Livermore and Paolo Gep Cucco, alongside Vincent Cassel, Fanny Ardant, Erwin Schrott and Rossy de Palma. It was screened at La Scala on 19 January 2025.
More recently, he made his debut at the Opéra Royal de Versailles in Zingarelli’s Giulietta e Romeo alongside Franco Fagioli in a new production by Stefan Plewniak and Gilles Rico.
Among Valentino’s title roles are Mozart’s Il Sogno di Scipione under Federico Maria Sardelli at the Teatro Malibran, Bastien et Bastienne in a Davide Livermore production at the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas under Stefano Montanari at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Vivaldi’s L’Incoronazione di Dario under Federico Maria Sardelli at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, and Catone in Utica by the same composer at both the Opera Barga Festival and the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara.
In addition, Valentino appeared as Edmondo in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, and as Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at both the Teatro Verdi Pisa and the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, where the production opened the theatre’s 2024/2025 season under Riccardo Minasi. He also performed Nemorino in Donizetti’s Elisir d’amore in Florence, Pisa and Catania, and Filandro in Cimarosa’s Astuzie femminili under Alessandro De Marchi in Rome and Rieti.
With the complicity of Diego Fasolis, he performed Vivaldi’s Ottone in villa (Decio) and Farnace (Pompeo), both for La Fenice, where he could also be heard in the role of Pang in Turandot in a Francesco Ivan Ciampa/Cecilia Ligorio production.
Under the baton of Fabio Biondi, Valentino Buzza sang Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt in Valencia and Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Theater an der Wien, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Liceu Barcelona, Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid. He was the tenor soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass under the guidance of Zubin Mehta in Florence and sang Verdi’s Requiem on a tour throughout Europe alongside Claus Peter Flor and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano.
Valentino recorded Puccini’s Turandot (cond. Zubin Mehta) and Manon Lescaut (cond. Plácido Domingo) for Decca, as well as Verdi’s Macbeth (cond. Fabio Biondi) for Glossa.
Recent and forthcoming engagements include a return to Puccini’s Turandot (Pang) in a new production by Michele Gamba and Rafael R. Villalobos at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, as well as a return to Zingarelli’s Giulietta e Romeo (Teobaldo) at the Opéra Royal de Versailles.
Valentino will also travel to Oman with Francesco Lanzillotta for a staged adaptation of Davide Livermore and Paolo Gep Cucco’s film The Opera!. Prior to its release in cinemas across France, the film will receive its premiere screening at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
