The mezzo-soprano Paola Gardina was born in 1976 in Rovigo, where she studied. Awards include first prize in the XXXII Edition of the Toti del Monte Competition for the rôle of Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola. Other appearances have included Meg in Falstaff (Teatro Verdi, Trieste), Mercedes in Carmen (Teatro Verdi, Trieste), in 2004 a tour of Brazil, Argentina and Chile with Vivaldi’s Dixit and Gloria, Tisbe in La Cenerentola (Teatro Eden, Treviso) and Mozart’s Mass in C minor (Teatro Giovanni, Udine). In 2003 she sang the rôle of Floria in La traviata in Busseto, Cantanzaro and at the Bolshoy in Moscow. She has worked with distinguished conductors and her recordings include the Christmas Oratorio of Saint-Saëns.