Ferruccio Furlanetto

Ferruccio Furlanetto (Pordenone, 16 May 1949) is an Italian bass whose operatic career spanned European and North American houses from the mid-1970s onwards. His birthplace is sometimes given as "Pordenone, Sicily", an attribution that should be checked, as Pordenone lies in Friuli.

He made his debut in 1974 in Lonigo as Sparafucile and, after singing in various Italian theatres, came to wider attention in Aix-en-Provence between 1976 and 1977. In 1978 he made his American debut in New Orleans as Zaccaria and, the following year, sang Alvise in San Francisco. Between 1980 and 1981 he worked at Glyndebourne, singing Melibeo and Don Basilio. His subsequent engagements include Salzburg between 1986 and 1995, San Diego, the Paris Opéra and La Scala, as well as his Covent Garden debut in 1988 as Leporello. At the Metropolitan he sang Leporello, Don Giovanni and Figaro between 1990 and 1992.

His repertoire also embraces Rossini's Assur, Mustafà and Don Magnifico, and Verdi's Ramfis and Fiesco. A lively actor with a dark, incisive voice, he left recordings of several Mozart roles, among them Leporello with Karajan and Figaro and Don Alfonso with Levine. This combination of singing and stage presence defines his profile in the buffo repertoire.