Eric Cutler in June 2009. He performed the Duke of Mantua in Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto", in a Fenice's production, for a tour in Italy which involved Reggio Emilia and Venice. Cutler's most critically acclaimed performances have all been in Mozart operas. These include Tamino (Metropolitan Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Glyndebourne and Edinburgh Festivals), Belmonte in "The Abduction from the Seraglio" (Boston Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Teatro Real Madrid) and Don Ottavio in "Don Giovanni" (Wolf Trap Opera Company and Santa Fe Opera). EMI issued Eric Cutler's first solo recording featuring songs of Barber, Schumann, Hahn and Liszt, called
Il corsaro Il corsaro Il corsaro ("The Corsair") is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, from a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on Lord Byron's poem "The Corsair". The first performance was given at the Teatro Grande in Trieste on 25 October 1848. The composer expressed interest in Byron's poem "The Corsair" (along with "The Two Foscari" and others) as early as 1844 when he was planning an opera for Venice, but a suitable baritone was not available. In 1845, (before it was determined that "I masnadieri" was to be the opera presented in London), the composer had contracted