Francesco Izzo

Francesco Izzo is a musicologist and pianist specialising in 19th-century opera and vocal music. He is Professor of Music at the University of Southampton, where he teaches courses and supervises research projects on opera, vocal performance practice, and textual criticism.

He is the author of the monograph Laughter between Two Revolutions: Opera buffa in Italy, 1831–1848 (University of Rochester Press) and serves as General Editor of The Works of Giuseppe Verdi (University of Chicago Press and Casa Ricordi), for which he edited Un giorno di regno. As a pianist, he has recently performed alongside internationally renowned artists including Francesca Aspromonte, Leo Nucci, Lisette Oropesa, Michele Pertusi, and Riccardo Zanellato.

Francesco has held visiting professorships at the University of Chicago, New York University, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Before joining the University of Southampton, he taught at East Carolina University and was a fellow at New York University (where he earned his PhD) and Princeton University.

A specialist in 19th-century vocal performance practice, he has worked as accompanist and vocal coach with artists such as Barry Banks, Rockwell Blake, Kevin Short, and Giuseppe Taddei, and has provided coaching and consultancy to many other singers. More recently, he has accompanied performances by Leo Nucci and Juan Jesús Rodríguez in Bilbao, soprano Anna Pirozzi and basses Michele Pertusi and Riccardo Zanellato in Parma, Francesca Aspromonte in Córdoba, and tenor Antonio Poli in New York.

His acclaimed 2021 recital with Lisette Oropesa at Teatro Regio di Parma received wide acclaim and went viral after a spontaneous moment during “Sempre libera” from Verdi’s La Traviata, when a singing student from China joined in from the audience.

He is deeply committed to bridging performance and research. He has been Scholar-in-Residence at Sarasota Opera and, since 2017, principal scientific advisor of the Festival Verdi, which under his scientific direction was awarded Best Festival at the International Opera Awards. He has collaborated with conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Daniele Callegari, Francesco Lanzillotta, Michele Mariotti, Francesco Pasqualetti, and Sebastiano Rolli; stage directors such as Hugo de Ana, Leo Muscato, and Graham Vick; and numerous internationally renowned singers including Anna Maria Chiuri, Annick Massis, Michele Pertusi, Piero Pretti, Ramón Vargas, Franco Vassallo, and Riccardo Zanellato.

He has lectured and contributed to leading opera institutions and festivals worldwide, including the Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne Festival, Donizetti Festival, Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera, Teatro La Fenice, and opera seasons in Bilbao, Madrid, Munich, Naples, Palermo, and Rome.

He is regularly invited to give lectures, workshops, and masterclasses, including at the Juilliard School, Princeton University, Conservatorium Maastricht, and the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he continued teaching and outreach online, including guest teaching in Lisette Oropesa’s widely followed online masterclasses.

In 2021, he served as scientific consultant at Teatro Real in Madrid for the modern premiere of Don Fernando el Emplazado by Valentín de Zubiaurre. In 2022 and 2025 he collaborated with conductor Sebastiano Rolli in productions of Verdi’s I Lombardi alla prima crociata and Attila at Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

In recognition of his work in research and vocal performance practice, he was appointed Director of the Accademia Verdiana in 2023, and became founding Academic Director of the Córdoba International Ópera Studio. He continues to lead training programmes for young artists in Europe, the United States, and China, and remains active as a performer, educator, and researcher internationally.