The baritone Filippo Polinelli was born at Tortona in 1984, studying first as a bass. He made his professional début in 2006 at the Teatro alla Scala in Massenet’s Manon Lescaut, with appearances in Verdi’s Otello throughout Italy. He made his début in 2007 at the Teatro Regio in Parma in Rossini’s La pietra del paragone. In 2009 he made his début at La Scala, Milan, in a series of principal baritone Rossini rôles, with other engagements including appearance in a gala in Tokyo with Plácido Domingo.