Stefano Olcese, bass singer and Italian language coach at Malmö Opera in Sweden since 2014, has been among the winners of the Armel Opera Competition in Hungary in 2013. This success brought him to sing the role of Jacopo Fiesco in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at the Szeged National Opera House (the event had been broadcasted on the internet by the ARTE channel). During the 2016/17 season he has been a member of the Royal Danish Opera House in Copenhagen where, as a soloist, he sung in Verdi’s Macbeth and Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann. At Malmö Opera he sung in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera and Traviata, in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, in a staged version of Mozart’s Requiem which had remarkable success among both the press and the audience and, recently, in Roméo et Juliette by Gounod. In 2015 he interpreted the role of Alvise in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda with the Operafabriken company in Sweden and Denmark.
He began his musical training studying the piano and composition under the guidance of Licia Cartaregia and Caterina Bertora Milanese. He obtained a University degree in Arts discussing a doctoral thesis on the operas of Pietro Metastasio, published on “Rassegna della Letteratura Italiana”.
He went on to work in the field of classical discography for the Dynamic label, and studied singing with Luisa Maragliano, Ottavio Garaventa, Paola Pittaluga, Francesco Ellero D’Artegna and Enrico Gregori.
In Modena he frequented the Accademia Harmonica directed by Francesco Esposito, as well as masterclasses with artists such as Raina Kabaivanska, Sonia Ganassi, Luciana D’Intino, Alessandro Corbelli, Patrizia Ciofi, Alessandro Patalini and Gabriella Petti. In Modena he also appeared with “Corale Rossini”, and at the Teatro Comunale “Luciano Pavarotti”.
Having debuted as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni at Abano Terme, he appeared in concerts with the “Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia” and the “Collegium Symphonium Veneto”. He was engaged in the Opera Studio of the theatres of Pisa, Livorno and Lucca for Gluck’s Paride ed Elena.
In 2008 he won the “Opera Incanto” International singing competition for the role of Sparafucile, debuting in Rigoletto at Casa Verdi in Milan.
Since 2008 he has worked at the Nice Opéra, where, as a soloist, he has appeared in Verdi’s Macbeth and Aida (Ramfis), Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Strauss’ Elektra, Rota’s Lo Scoiattolo in Gamba and Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio.
In 2011 he sung the role of Don Basilio in Paisiello’s Barbiere di Siviglia at Chamber Opera House of Geneva.
He had the privilege to work with conductors like Tamás Pal, Patrick Ringborg, Gyüdi Sándor, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Alberto Hold-Garrido, Olof Boman, Maxime Pascal, Leone Magiera, Giulio Magnanini, Sergio Monterisi, Franco Trinca, Francesca Tosi.
Stefano Olcese is also an active composer who started writing piano music at a young age. In 2016, encouraged by the Swedish violin player Anders Hjortvall and the Italian director Leo Muscato, he made his first recordings (Skåne and Quasi una Mazurka). In 2020 he obtained the 2nd prize at the Edition Peters/SheetMusicPlus competition with his piece På väg (On My Way).
Ales Stenar, inspired by a famous megalithic site in Southern Sweden, is his first suite for violin and chamber orchestra and had its premiere at Malmö Opera House in September 2023, followed by two concerts in France in 2024. Next year, it will be performed at Nice Opera.