One of the greatest basses of our time Ferruccio Furlanetto is one of the most sought-after singers in the world. The critics praise him for his vast range, thundering vocal power, and excellent acting ability.

His amazing international career began with the role of King Philip II in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Salzburg Easter Festival under the baton of Herbert von Karajan in 1986. In the same year he debuted at the Salzburg Summer Festival with the role of Figaro in Mozart’s opera. His debuts on the leading opera stages happened earlier: Teatro alla Scala (1979), Metropolitan Opera (1980), Vienna State Opera (1985).

He has collaborated with some leading orchestras and conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Carlo Maria Giulini, Sir Georg Solti, Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Barenboim, Georges Prêtre, James Levine, Semyon Bychkov, Daniele Gatti, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, and Vladimir Jurowski. He performs in concerts and recitals at the leading world’s concert halls, in the repertory ranging from Verdi’s Requiem to Russian songs and Schubert’s Winterreise. He has made numerous recordings of opera on CD and DVD, and his performances were broadcasted internationally on the radio and television. He makes himself at home at many opera houses such as La Scala Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, Opera National de Paris, and New York Metropolitan Opera as well those in Rome, Turin, Florence, Bologna, Palermo, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Moscow. For the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, he became the first Italian bass to appear in the title role of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, he also performed the role on the stage of Bolshoi Theater with great critical and public acclaim last season, becoming the only Western artist who sang Boris Godunov on both historical main stages of Russia.

At the Mariinsky Theatre Ferruccio Furlanetto has performed his greatest roles in operas by Verdi – Filippo II in Don Carlo and Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra and has appeared in chamber music programmes and sung Verdi's Requiem. One particular success came with his appearances in a concert version of Massenet's opera Don Quichotte in St Petersburg and Moscow. Acclaimed as the greatest Don Quichotte of our time, the Italian singer has recorded the opera with young soloists and the theatre's orchestra under Valery Gergiev on the Mariinsky label (this recording was praised by the critics and received a Grammy nomination). In the 2012 season Furlanetto appeared in the lead role in the premiere of a new production of Don Quichotte at the Mariinsky Theatre which was later performed in Moscow, while in 2015 with a recital the singer opened the XIII Stars of the White Nights music festival.

The 2014-15 season in the whole is dominated by the role of Philipp II in Don Carlo, highly praised by the press all over the world: Ferruccio Furlanetto sang it recently in London and Vienna “with an imposing authority that embraced equally Philip II’s fearsome power and his inner weakness” (Financial Times). At the first half of the season Ferruccio Furlanetto sang King Philipp at the Sofia Opera for the season opener (it was be his debut at the house), which commemorated Boris Christoff’s 100th anniversary. In January he performed the role at the Vienna State Opera, in April – returned with it to the Metropolitan Opera’s Don Carlo in the Nickolas Hytner’s production. Ferruccio Furlanetto so far is the only King Philipp seen and heard in this staging since its premiere in 2008 in London (two revivals had followed) and in 2010 in New York (this season it was its second revival). “Great Ferruccio Furlanetto had set high standard for this role”, – as the New York Times stated. Furlanetto already sang more then 200 performances at the Met. The same role marked the singer's debut at the Sydney Opera House.

At the concert stage Ferruccio Furlanetto participated in the Freedom Gala at the Hungarian Opera in Budapest, Neil Schicoff’s Gala at the Vienna State Opera. He had solo recitals at the Palais Garnier (Paris), Vienna State Opera and big solo orchestra Gala at the San Diego Opera.

Recent CD releases include the highly critically praised Mussorgsky CD release with Valery Gergiev and Mariinsky orchestra for the Mariinsky Label and CD with Mariss Jansons and Concertgebow for the “Mariss Jansons Live, The Radio Recordings 1990-2014. Ferruccio Furlanetto sings Songs and Dances of Death in both releases. Other important 2015 release is Ferruccio Furlanetto, Vienna Staatsoper – Live Recordings 1997 – 2012 by Orfeo International with the two key roles of Ferruccio Furlanetto repertoiry – Philipp II and Boris Godunov. Ferruccio Furlanetto is Honorary Ambassador to the United Nations and devoted golf player.