1970s Fisichella won the XXIV Concorso Lirico Adriano Belli - the prestigious competition held in
Spoleto, for his performances of the opera pieces
I puritani,
La favorite and
Rigoletto. Prior to touring all of Italy, Spoleto was also the venue for Fisichella's debut performance in the leading role of
Massenet's
Werther conducted by
Ottavio Ziino. In 1971 Fisichella was engaged by the
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma for two performances of
Rigoletto and no less than seven performances of
I puritani conducted by
Armando La Rosa Parodi with
Mirella Freni and
Cornell MacNeil. In the same year, he also performed at the
Teatro Massimo in Palermo alongside
Leyla Gencer in ''
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'' conducted by
Gianandrea Gavazzeni. A year later, he was called upon again by the Opera di Roma, this time to work with
Mirella Freni and Ghiaurov in Gounoud's
Faust conducted by
Georges Prêtre. In April 1973 he debuted at the
Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, working with
Lidia Marimpietri in a production of
La bohème conducted by Zoltan Pesko. In 1973, Fisichella took part in
Elisa e Claudio at the Festival Mercadantiano in
Altamura. In
Pesaro in 1975, he sang in
Rossini's
Messa di Gloria, a score avoided by many of the
bel canto elite.
1980s In 1983, he performed in a production of
La bohème with
Katia Ricciarelli. In 1984, he sang with
Bruna Baglioni,
Giorgio Zancanaro and
Bonaldo Giaiotti at the
State Theatre of Bern in
Donizetti's
La favorite conducted by
Nello Santi. On this occasion, the critic of
Der Bund described Fisichella as "currently the best tenor singer of the Donizetti and Bellini repertoire". It was around this time that Fisichella began to collaborate with
Nello Santi, the maestro who would encourage the tenor to take up the challenging roles of
I puritani,
La Gioconda,
Guglielmo Tell,
La nuit de mai,
Rigoletto,
Il pirata, and the
Messa di Requiem. In the same year, Fisichella performed Rossini's
Stabat Mater at the Konzerthaus in Vienna. In 1985, he once again played Arturo in
I puritani (this time singing alongside the soprano
Edita Gruberova and
baritone Giorgio Zancanaro, with the conductor Masini at the
Bregenz Festival.
Dortmund also saw him play Arturo. Again in 1985, Fisichella performed for the Radio Berlin concert to commemorate the 150th anniversary of
Vincenzo Bellini's death. In November 1986, Fisichella performed the role of Arturo in
I puritani at his
Metropolitan Opera debut in New York, together with the
soprano Joan Sutherland. The performance created a stir among the
New York press.
1990s Fisichella's vocal range, flexibility and incisive phrasing have led the singer to branch out beyond the bel canto repertoire into
verismo, as, for example, in his 1988 performance of
La Gioconda at the inauguration of the
Teatro Regio di Torino. He performed the role of Mario Cavaradossi in
Tosca at the XXXVI
Puccini Festival in the summer of 1990. Fisichella was one of the performers at the Megaconcert held in
Verona Arena (Concert of Tenors) to commemorate the centenary of
Beniamino Gigli's birth, (Corriere della Sera 29/8/1990). He was seen playing the role of Edgardo in
Lucia di Lammermoor at
La Scala in Milan in May 1992. In 1995, Fisichella performed in the production of Donizetti's
La favorite broadcast live on Italian National Radio. He performed together with
Leo Nucci in
Rigoletto at the
Zurich Opera House, as conducted by Nello Santi. The production was later taken to the
Gran Teatre del Liceu in
Barcelona. Together with
Katia Ricciarelli, Fisichella was invited to the closing concert of the Homage to
Pietro Mascagni celebrations organised in
Vizzini to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Mascagni's death. The concert took place against the natural backdrop to
Cavalleria Rusticana. He performed Verdi's
Requiem in
Solingen with The MGV Wupperhorf Choir 1812, of which he is an honorary member. On this occasion, Fisichella performed together with Rybarska, Baglioni, and Nesterenko and the concert was recorded on CD. In 1996, Fisichella returned to Tokyo for a production of
La traviata with
June Anderson. The same year saw him perform in
Mario Monicelli's centenary production of
La bohème at the 42nd
Puccini Festival in
Torre del Lago. Fisichella performed three concerts of Verdi's
Requiem conducted by
Nello Santi at the
Teatro Filarmonico in Verona and the Teatro Sociale in Mantua. In 1997 he returned to the Zurich Opernhaus to perform
Rigoletto, alternating with Nucci and Zancanaro. On the occasion of the inaugural concerts for the newly restored Teatro Massimo in Palermo, he performed together with Gasdia, Casolla, and Peterson in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by Neschling. He sang again with Nucci in
La traviata and the
Requiem Mass at the III Festival d’Opera d’Avence. At the VII Classical Open Air Festival in Solothurn, he performed with Nucci both in
La bohème and
Rigoletto. Another engagement followed at ''Verona's Teatro Filarmonico
where he sang the challenging piece by Verdi - Inno delle nazioni'', conducted by Maurizio Arena. At the Cathedral of Catania he performed Geremia's unpublished
Missa Pro Defunctis 1809 and Bellini's
Messa Seconda in G minor with
Katia Ricciarelli. The concert was conducted by
Douglas Bostock, and was recorded for Classico records. In 1998, Fisichella was again to sing with
Katia Ricciarelli, this time performing in three large-scale New Year's concerts organised by the Sicilian Regional Authorities. He also performed in Teatro Massimo Bellini's production of
Rigoletto in Catania (with Nucci and Pace, conducted by Nello Santi) and in the
Concerto Dei Grandi Tenori Siciliani organised by the same theatre. This was the period in which Fisichella was presented with the Gigli D’Oro award at the second
Una vita per la Musica event held in
Recanati, the native town of the tenor himself. In 1999, Fisichella was once again invited to perform at the
Puccini Festival in a production of
La bohème. The same year saw Fisichella, together with two fellow performers, in a memorable open air
Concerto Sotto Le Stelle in Recanati, singing in the same square where
Gigli had so often entertained his home public.
2000s In
Johnstown (Pittsburgh, U.S.A.), Fisichella received a welcome in the awaited annual concerto-festival at the Pasquarilla Center. 2000 continued with performances of
Macbeth at the Teatro Massimo in Catania,
Madame Butterfly at the
Puccini Festival, and a production of
La bohème at the
Den Norske Opera in
Oslo. Fisichella opened the new millennium with two concerts in
Beijing, one on New Year's Eve, the other on New Year's Day. On this occasion, he had the honour of being the only European singer invited to perform with the three largest choirs and orchestras of China. During the Anno Belliano celebrations, he was a contributor together with
Lucia Aliberti and
Roberto Frontali in ''Teatro Massimo Bellini's
production of Il pirata'' in Catania. Between 2001 and 2005, the tenor performed various operas, concerts & recitals around Europe. In 2001, he performed
Rigoletto in both the Opera Gala at the Stadttheater,
St. Gallen, and also at the Festival of Openair
Solothurn. In October, the tenor went on to give four performances of
Tosca in Ooppera in Helsinki and sang
Capuleti ei Montecchi at the
Den Norske Opera in
Oslo. In November, he gave two performances of
I puritani in a
Bellinianino Concert at the
Grand Theatre, Łódź,
La bohème and
Madama Butterfly at the
Hungarian State Opera House's Puccini Festival together with Ilona Tokody and Tamas Busa. In 2002, Fisichella taught at the
5th International Vocal Masterslass held in Akademia Muzyczna in
Gdańsk. He also gave several performances in the
Galakonzert at the Baltic Opera Theater and the Festival of Openair Solothurn, in the months of May and July respectively. Also in 2002, he staged a concert at the Opera in Minsk. He was once again in the
Openair Solothurn in July 2003 playing
Rigoletto and
Faust. In August, he participated in the
Concert Vocale held in the
Noto Music Festival; in this year he was also awarded with
Beniamino Gigli Prize. In the months of March, April and May 2004, he was contracted to play as Pollione in
Norma, together with Gabriella Morigi, Riikka Rantanen,
Serena Farnocchia, Ilkka Vihavainen and Hannu Forsberg. This was directed by the
soprano Renata Scotto and conducted by Alberto Hold-Garrido. In September, he staged a
Lirico Concert together with the soprano Chiara Taigi in
Berne Theatre. In July 2005, he was seen playing
Faust, together with Svetozar Rangelov and Tsvetana Bandalovska at the Openair Solothurn, with
Nayden Todorov as conductor. Also in July, Fisichella rendered a
Concert Lirico, conducted by Giorgio Croci at the
National Opera and Ballet (Sofia). ==Accolades, awards and distinctions==