Riccardo Zanellato was born in Contarina, in the province of Rovigo, and graduated in guitar from the Adria Conservatory in 1994. His passion for singing emerged during his military service when he was chosen to join the Alpine Choir. During this experience, many encouraged him to cultivate what was immediately recognized as a remarkable gift. In 1992, a meeting with Maestro Arrigo Pola, who had also taught Pavarotti, marked the beginning of his artistic journey and led to his debut in 1994 at the Teatro Verdi in Padua as Count Ceprano in Rigoletto. In subsequent years, he participated in many competitions, winning the “A. Belli” competition in Spoleto in 1996 and becoming a finalist in “Operalia” in Tokyo in 1997. In 2005, he was awarded the Tiberini d’Argento.

In 2000, Zanellato began vocal refinement with Maestro Bonaldo Giaiotti, a collaboration that proved essential for his career. With Giaiotti, he prepared one of the most challenging roles for a bass: Zaccaria in Nabucco. His debut in this role took place in 2001 at Villa Pallavicino in Busseto, and since then, he has performed in numerous productions, becoming a definitive interpreter of the character.

Zanellato’s extensive vocal range and smooth singing style make him a distinguished performer of the Verdi repertoire, as well as works by Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini. Some notable performances include Attila and La Battaglia di Legnano (Parma), Rigoletto (Parma, Macerata, Caracalla, Teatro alla Scala, Turin, Liège), Otello (Paris), Simon Boccanegra (Rome, Catania, Lyon, Dresden), Nabucco (Rovigo, Ravenna, Rome, Parma, Savonlinna Festival, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Kyiv), Aida (Naples, Turin, Verona, Valencia), Il Trovatore (Lausanne, Verona, Salzburg), Macbeth (Rome, Berlin Staatsoper, Bologna, Tel Aviv), Luisa Miller (Barcelona, Bilbao, Lyon), Maria Stuarda (Bergamo, Reggio Emilia), Anna Bolena (Bergamo, Brescia, Parma, Helsinki, Turin, Japan tour), Lucia di Lammermoor (Florence, Naples, Macerata, Venice, Wiesbaden), Norma (Rovigo, Catania, Palermo, Warsaw, Turin, Montevideo, Verona, Japan tour), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Parma, Padua), and I Puritani (Amsterdam, Cagliari, Lecce).

He has collaborated with prominent conductors such as Chailly, Gatti, Viotti, Mariotti, Abbado, Pappano, Battistoni, Rustioni, and Renzetti, and with renowned directors including Catena, De Ana, Abbado, Muscato, Vick, Wilson, Maestrini, and Pier’Alli.

A turning point in his career was his meeting with Maestro Riccardo Muti, who selected him for Iphigénie en Aulide, Nabucco, Moïse et Pharaon, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, and Nabucco at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. One of Zanellato’s cherished works is Verdi’s Requiem, and he fulfilled a dream by performing it under Muti in Naples, Redipuglia, the Ravenna Festival, and on tour in Slovenia and Vienna with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Zanellato’s artistic journey continued with new roles: Mosè in Egitto at the 2011 Rossini Opera Festival (winner of the 2011 Abbiati Award), Attila at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in 2016, Don Carlos (Philip II) in 2017, I Masnadieri (Massimiliano) in January 2018, and many others. Highlights from 2017 included performing the prologue of Mefistofele as the sole soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, collaborations with Muti for Verdi’s Requiem, and participation in the first Italian performance of Rossini’s Messa at La Scala, under Chailly. That December, he was awarded honorary citizenship by his hometown.

In 2022, Zanellato performed Rigoletto in Muscat and Genoa, Verdi’s Requiem in Paris and Ljubljana, Lucia di Lammermoor in Munich, Simon Boccanegra in Liège, and at the Festival Verdi.

In 2023, notable performances included I Vespri Siciliani at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Aida at the Opera di Roma, a production of Nabucco in Geneva, and Rigoletto at the Terme di Caracalla under the direction of Damiano Michieletto. This production was a revival of the version created for the Circus Maximus, which will also be featured at the Rome Film Festival and broadcast by Rai. In September, he performed as Brogni in Halévy’s La Juive at the Teatro Regio di Torino, followed in November by Simon Boccanegra at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. This production will be staged again by the Finnish National Opera and Ballet in Helsinki in April 2024. He concludes the year with La Vita è Sogno by Malipiero in Venice and Mosè in Egitto at the Teatro Valli in Reggio Emilia.