Flavio Ferri-Benedetti | counter-tenor
Swiss-based countertenor, teacher, researcher and composer Flavio Ferri-Benedetti was born in Scandiano (Italy) in 1983 and relocated to Castellón (Spain) as a child. He currently lives between Basel and Zurich.
His musical studies include a Piano Diploma (Vila-real 2004) and a MA in Historical Singing cum laude (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Prof. Gerd Türk, 2006-2010) with precious inputs from, among others, Margreet Honig, Nancy Argenta and Ian Partridge. Since 2010, his vocal coach is Prof. Lina Maria Åkerlund. Further academic studies include a MA in Translation Studies (UJI 2005) and a PhD cum laude in Literature (Univ. de València 2014 with Prof. Dr. Carmen Morenilla and Dr. Christine Fischer) with a dissertation about the Classical Tradition in Metastasio’s Issipile.
Flavio Ferri-Benedetti debuted as a countertenor in 2000 and has sung opera, oratorio, polyphonic music and chamber music in Europe, America and Japan ever since, spanning from medieval to contemporary music. His discography includes more than 15 albums, including six solo albums. He received two nominations as Young Singer of the Year by Opernwelt in 2009 and 2010.
He teaches Historical Singing and Italian Diction at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and is a Coach of Singing and Italian Diction at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Moreover, he has given masterclasses in Madrid, Valencia, Basel, Zurich, Munich, Freiburg and Boston, and is very active teaching voice privately. Flavio has been composing actively, especially sacred music, for the last 20 years. His major work, premiered in Basel in March 2023, is La Passione di Gesù Cristo, a sacred oratorio with the original libretto by Pietro Metastasio (1730).