Pier Paolo Bisleri

Biography

Graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze as set and costume designer. In 1970-80 was in charge of the Visual Arts Space at La Capella Underground centre in Trieste; took great interest in various forms of expression in contemporary art and contacted such artists as Joseph Beuys, Ar-nulf Reiner, Christo and Andy Warhol.
In 1978 curated the first Italian exhibition of Viennese Actionism, where he presented such artists as Gunter Brus, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Heinz Cibulka, Otto Muehl and Hermann Nitsch.

Due to this experience in visual arts he will always be particularly passionate about contemporary art in his artistic quest, including his engagement as theatre designer. He collaborated with various directors, such as Antonio Calenda, Giorgio Pressburger, Giuseppe Patroni-Griffi, Gabriele Lavia, Davide Livermore, Walter Pagliaro and Federico Tiezzi, with whom he has been collaborating since 1991.

Having started as set and costume designer in drama, he moved on to music theatre in 1991 and worked on the productions of Norma and La sonnambula by Bellini, Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini, Cavalleria rusticana and Iris by Mascagni, Attila, Il trovatore and Simon Boccanegra by Verdi, Madama Butterfly, La bohème, Manon Lescaut and Suor Angelica by Puccini, Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, Lucia di Lammermoor and La fille du régiment by Donizetti, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte by Mozart, Carmen by Bizet, I cavalieri di Ekebù by Zandonai, Der fliegende Holländer by Wagner, and La voix humaine by Poulenc. His venues include the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival, the Teatro Verdi di Trieste, the Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania, Opera de Monte-Carlo, the Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, the Greek National Opera, San Carlo di Napoli, the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Teatro alla Scala, the Berlin State Opera, the Bilbao Opera, Baltimore Opera Theatre, Opera de Montpellier, Bunkamura in Tokyo, Osaka Centre of Performing Arts, Sejong Centre of Performing Arts in Seoul, and the 10th Pafos Aphrodite Festival Cyprus, 2008.