Raquel Pierotti (born December 17, 1952,

Montevideo, Uruguay Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern coa ...

) is a

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer. She specialized in

coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...

roles in the

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano p ...

and

Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

repertoire.

Biography

Raquel Pierotti was born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

where she got her graduation at the National Opera School and made her operatic debut in 1973 as Damigella nuziale in Mozart's

Nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...

. During the next six years she worked in many operatic productions singing

Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lu ...

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

as well as in many chamber and symphonic concerts. She won the First Prize in the "

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

National Contest" and in the "Artigas - Washington Contest". In 1979 she moved to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. She won the "

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

Award" in 1979 and the 2º Grand Prix in 1980 both in the "Francisco Viñas Singing Competition". In the same year she won the First Prize in the "Mozart Singing Competition" organized by

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

's Mozarteum and the Gold Medal from

Radio Nacional de España Radio Nacional de España (acronym RNE, branded rne, "National Radio of Spain") is the national Government-owned corporation, state-owned public service broadcasting, public service radio broadcaster in Spain. RNE is the radio division and T ...

(Spanish National Broadcasting) given to the most promising debutant of the season. In 1980 made her operatic début in

at the Gran Teatro del Liceo in

as Lola in Mascagni's

Cavalleria Rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; ) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of the same name and subsequent ...

. The following year she made her European débuts at the Opera de Paris as Rosina in Rossini's

Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy '' ...

, as well as at La Scala, Milan, as Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Since then she has been a frequent guest at La Scala where she sang Clarice in La pietra del paragone (Rossini), Smeton in Anna Bolena (Donizetti), Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), Isabella in L'italiana in Algeri (Rossini), Maddalena in Il viaggio a Reims (Rossini), Cecilio in Lucio Silla (Mozart), and Fenena in Nabucco (Verdi) for the 1986/1987 Season Opening Night as well as in the tournées in Berlin, Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama) and Bulgaria (Sofia, Varna). On November 2. 1988 she was invited to sing in a concert celebrating the birthday of Her Majesty the Queen of Spain Doña Sofía. She has worked with renowned conductors as

Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He is current music director of the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the ...

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the Berlin Philharm ...

, Gianandrea Gavazzeni,

Riccardo Chailly Riccardo Chailly (, ; born 20 February 1953) is an Italian conductor. He is currently music director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and of La Scala. Prior to this, he held chief conducting positions at the Gewandhausorchester (2005–20 ...

, Julius Rudel,

John Eliot Gardiner Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage of 2000, performing Church cantata (Bach), Bach's church ...

, Jesús López Cobos, Sir John Pritchard, Alain Lombard, Lorin Maazel... and directors as

Giorgio Strehler Giorgio Strehler (; ; 14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was an Italian stage director, theatre practitioner, actor, and politician. Strehler was one of the most significant figures in Italian theatre during his lifetime, described by Mel Gu ...

, Jean Pierre Ponnelle,

Eduardo De Filippo Eduardo De Filippo OMRI (; 26 May 1900 – 31 October 1984), also known simply as ''Eduardo'', was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan language, Neapolitan works ''Filumena Marturano'' and ...

Patrice Chéreau Patrice Chéreau (; ; 2 November 1944 – 7 October 2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films '' La Reine Margot'' and ''I ...

Pier Luigi Pizzi Pier Luigi Pizzi (born 15 June 1930) is an Italian opera director, set and costume designer. Biography Pizzi was born in Milan, Italy, and earned a degree in architecture at the Politecnico of Milan. Against the will of his skeptical father, h ...

Roberto De Simone Roberto De Simone (; 25 August 1933 – 6 April 2025) was an Italian stage director, academic teacher, playwright, composer and ethnomusicologist. Beginning as a harpsichordist, he turned to research of early Italian music and co-founded the Nuo ...

Luca Ronconi Luca Ronconi (8 March 1933 – 21 February 2015) was an Italian actor, theatre director, and opera director. Biography Ronconi was born in Sousse, Tunisia. After growing up in Tunisia, where his mother was a school teacher, Ronconi graduated ...

, Lluis Pasqual,

Jérôme Savary Jérôme Savary (27 June 1942 – 4 March 2013) was an Argentine-French theater director and actor. His work has democratized and widened the appeal of musical theater in France, drawing together and blending such genres as opera, operetta, and mus ...

Beni Montresor Beni Montresor (31 March 1926 – 11 October 2001) was an Italian artist, opera and film director, set designer, author and children's book illustrator. He won the 1965 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing '' May I Bri ...

, Gabriele Lavia,

Jorge Lavelli Jorge Lavelli (11 November 1932 – 9 October 2023) was an Argentine-born French theatre and opera director. He staged first plays and then opera, and in both fields, he was open to contemporary pieces without neglecting the classic repertoire. ...

, José Carlos Plaza. She has appeared at most of the well-known opera houses in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

such as

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

and

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

among others as well as outside

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

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Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital city, capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's Chilean Central Valley, central valley and is the center ...

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Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

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Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

... Among her activities are recitals of Spanish and Latin American music as well as "Zarzuela". She has created the role of "Tatula" from the opera Divinas palabras in the opening season (1997/ 98) at the Teatro Real (Madrid), singing with Plácido Domingo. In 1999 she sang La vida breve in

, Grenoble and La Coruña, and El amor brujo and Siete conciones Populares Españolas in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

, Varsaw,

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

and

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

. In 2000 she sang a concert in Hannover, representing

in occasion of the World Fair. In April 2002 and 2004 she sang Babel 46 (Montsalvatge) and L'enfant et les sortilèges (

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

) at the

Teatro Real The Teatro Real () is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as "''El Real''" (The Royal One). it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts ...

(

) and Liceo de

. She sang the role of Mariana (Luisa Fernanda) in Scala di Milano (2003),

(

) (2006) and Theathr an der Wien (

) (2008) all with Plácido Domingo. In 2004 and 2007 she sang Boris Godunov (Nurse) at Liceo de

and

(

). In August 2009 she sang the leading role of "La casa de Bernanda Alba" (Bernarda), created by the young Spanish composer Miquel Ortega, in Santander Festival and Perelada Festival. In 2005 she has been member of the jury in the prestigious "Francisco Viñas" and "

Manuel Ausensi Manuel Ausensi i Albalat (; 8 October 1919 – 1 September 2005) was a Catalan baritone opera singer. Ausensi was born in Barcelona. During the Spanish Civil War, he studied singing in Valencia and then in the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelo ...

" singing contests.

Roles

During her career she sang : Sextus and Cornelia (Giulio Cesare); Siebel (Faust); Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro); Cecilio (Lucio Silla); Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte); Zerlina (Don Giovanni); Angelina (La Cenerentola); Arsace (Semiramide); Isabella (L'Italiana in Algeri); Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) Andromaca (Ermione); Maddalena (Il viaggio a Reims); Clarice (La pietra del paragone); Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice); Fidalma (Il matrimonio segreto); Leonora (La Favorita); Adalgisa (Norma); Smeton (Anna Bolena); Elisabetta (Maria Stuarda); Carmen (Carmen); Sara (Roberto Devereux); Romeo (Capuleti e Montecchi); Agnese (Beatrice di Tenda); Giulietta (Les contes d'Hoffmann); Salud and la Abuela (La vida breve); Ottavia (L'incoronazione di Poppea); Preziosilla (La forza del destino); Meg and Quickly (Falstaff ); Climene (Saffo); Suzuki (Madama Butterfly); Berenice (Il Farnace); Vagans (Juditha triumphans); Mrs. Slender (Falstaff-Salieri), Cecilia (Las Golondrinas), Zulima (Los amantes de Teruel), Aurora (Doña Francisquita), Señá Rita (La verbena de la Paloma), Mariana (Luisa Fernanda), Nurse (Boris Godunov)...

Symphonic Repertoire

* Rossini: Stabat Mater, Petite Messe Sollennelle, Argene e Melania and Giovanna D'Arco * Haendel: Messiah * Mozart: Coronation Mass and Requiem * Beethoven: Symphony nª 9 * Pablo Casals: El pessebre * Pergolesi: Stabat Mater * Stravinsky: Pulcinella * Bach: Magnificat * Jaume Alaquer: Requiem * Tomás Bretón: Apocalipsis * Verdi: Requiem * Mendelssohn: Paulus * Vivaldi: Juditha Triumphans

Recordings

* Il barbiere di Siviglia - Berta (Riccardo Chailly) * Il viaggio a Reims - Maddalena (Claudio Abbado) * Le comte Ory - Ragonde (John Eliot Gardiner) * Giulio Cesare - Cornelia (Marcello Panni) * The Concert Mozart for Africa with Montserrat Caballé * Doña Francisquita - Aurora with Alfredo Kraus, (Antoni Ros-Marbá) * La verbena de la Paloma - Señá Rita and La Dolores-Gaspara both with Plácido Domingo (Antoni Ros-Marbá) * Viento es la dicha de amor-Amor (

Christophe Coin Christophe Coin (; born 26 January 1958) is a French cellist, viola da gamba player and conductor active in the field of historically informed performance. He is the cellist of the Quatuor Mosaïques and is the director of the Ensemble Baroque d ...

) * El pessebre (Lawrence Foster); * Il Farnace - Berenice (Massimiliano Carraro) * El llibre vermell (Antoni Ros-Marbá), * Requiem - Jaume Alaquer (Joan Company) * Luisa Fernanda - Mariana (Jesús López Cobos) * Falstaff - Meg (Daniel Oren) * Nabucco - Fenena (Riccardo Muti) * Hommage à Rossini (TV 1985)

Awards

* Maurice Ravel National Contest * Artigas - Washington Contest * Plácido Domigo Award * Francisco Viñas Singing Competition * Mozart Singing Competition, Barcelona's Mozarteum * Gold Medal from Radio Nacional de España * Alas Awards 2010 * Intendencia de Montevideo Homage

References

External links

*
Raquel's Discography at CD Universe

Raquel's Discography at Amazon

Raquel's Discography at Deutsche Grammophon
*
Raquel sings with Placido Domingo
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pierotti, Raquel 1952 births Living people Operatic mezzo-sopranos Singers from Montevideo 20th-century Uruguayan women singers Uruguayan opera singers