Stefano Secco
born 1970 Milano
Secco studied voice, percussion and piano; his first major engagement was at the Teatro dell'Opera in
Rome, for Puccini's Messa di Gloria, Berlioz's Te Deum, and for La bohème.
An excellent career followed: he sang at all important Italian theaters as well as in Tokyo, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Antwerp, at
the Vienna Staatsoper, the Paris Opéra Bastille, the Chicago Ravinia Festival, in Baltimore, Miami, Stockholm, Monte
Carlo, Liège, Munich, Madrid, Bilbão, Los Angeles, Zürich, Hamburg, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Marseille, San
Francisco, Toronto, Dresden, Geneva, Athens, Covent Garden London, Nice... a stunning example for what's wrong with opera, because Secco
is really anything but a good singer. Jokes on names are a big no-no of course, but Secco's voice sounds unfortunately really dry (secco,
in Italian), overstrained, underpowered. I heard him in his most important role, as Duca, early in his career, and was quite dismayed;
now it's no doubt that everybody can have (and has) the occasional bad evening, but I found my first impression confirmed whenever
hearing him on the internet or the radio. Particularly his 2010s and 2020s concerts with his partner in life, Sardinian mezzosoprano
Sarah M'Punga (who managed to destroy a great voice in no time, by lack of every shadow of vocal technique), were true low-class events,
proudly posted on Youtube, though.
Other roles in his repertory: Alfredo, three Carlos (Masnadieri, Giovanna D'Arco and Don Carlo), Macduff, Manrico,
Riccardo, Stiffelio, Rodolfo (both Luisa Miller and Bohème), Gabriele Adorno, Don José, Cavaradossi, Tonio
(La fille du régiment), Roméo, Pinkerton, Nemorino, Edgardo, Hoffmann, Faust, Werther, des Grieux (Manon).
Reference: Secco's website
Picture source
Source for the recordings: Youtube channel "Stefano Secco Official Channel – liricando"
A "polite" request by Stefano Secco
On 6 April 2025, I received the following email, in English:
Good morning, I am Stefano Secco.
With reference to this page https://www.historicaltenors.net/italian/secco.html, I request that it be removed immediately. I do
not want anything written about me in a denigratory manner, nor do I want there to be illegal recordings or insinuations about my wife.
Please take action on this; otherwise, I will start reporting the site.
This goes to prove that
- Secco's English is incomparably better than his singing
- he is no advocate of the freedom of speech, or the freedom of press
- he objects to pirate recordings only if made by others, while his own Youtube channel is brimming with them.
There had always been only one sound example of his voice on this site, "Quando le sere al placido", without the cabaletta; it had been
provided to François Nouvion, the founder of Historical Tenors, by a German correspondent, and had been sitting here for certainly
20 or so years without being called "illegal" by anybody; but of course, Mr. Secco should know better, so I have removed and replaced it
by another recording of the same aria (with cabaletta, this time), which is far inferior to the one that we formerly had, but at least
it's legitimate since it comes from Secco's Youtube channel.
While we're at it, I'm adding one of the duets with Sarah M'Punga that have to be heard to be believed; I'll readily admit that, if you
know M'Punga only from this recording, it seems like a mere insinuation that her voice had been great earlier on, but I fail to
understand why this would upset Mr. Secco, particularly since it's true: I heard M'Punga in concert in 2008, and she was gorgeous. The
below recording is from 2015, and everyone can hear what happened to her voice in the interval of just seven years; that she destroyed it
is thus no insinuation but an unquestionable fact.
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