Filippo Polinelli was born in Tortona in 1984.
In 2005, he began his studies under the guidance of soprano Lorenza Canepa. Starting from his debut (Teatro alla Scala, Manon by Jules Massenet, 2006), he quickly reached the most important stages of the Italian scene (Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Massimo di Palermo etc …).
In 2009 he was selected for the course for opera singers at the Academy of Performing Arts and Crafts of the Teatro alla Scala in Milano, which gave him the opportunity to deepen his technical and interpretative training with prestigious teachers as Mirella Freni, Renato Bruson, Luis Alva and Luciana Serra. In 2011, he was offered a third year of specialisation on the repertoire by Giuseppe Verdi.
Since 2012, his activity has focused on primary roles, with numerous debuts in prestigious theaters on the national and international scene (Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Royal Opera House in Muscat, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing etc…) working with prominent directors (among others: Sir Jonathan Miller, Damiano Michieletto, David McVicar, Antonio Albanese, Ferzan Özpetek), conductors (Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Donato Renzetti, Yuri Temirkanov, Renato Palumbo, Fabio Luisi etc…), Costume and Set Designers from all around the world, sharing the stage with the greatest Artists of the international scene (Daniela Dessì, Placido Domingo, Ruggero Raimondi etc…).
His voice, defined by critics as “full-bodied and at the same time rich and strong” (Pia Lombardi, Yesterday today and tomorrow Opera – La Bohème, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, 2019) has allowed him to move with flexibility from the bel canto repertoire (for example Don Bartolo in Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Malatesta in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Enrico in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor) to Verdi’s (among others: Germont in Traviata, Conte di Luna in Trovatore, Miller in Luisa Miller, Jago in Othello, Falstaff), up to Puccini and verismo (to name a few roles: Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Marcello in Bohème, Silvio in Pagliacci by Leoncavallo).
In 2016, on tour with the Teatro Verdi of Trieste, he participated in the grand opening of the Dubai Opera House with “Les pêcheurs de perles” by Georges Bizet, the first opera performed in the brand new Theatre.
In 2017 he was personally chosen by M° Zubin Mehta to play the role of Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff at the NCPA in Beijing, in the splendid production from the Wiener Staatsoper.
In 2018 he was the winner of the Award as best young singer of the 2017/18 Opera Season of the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, for his interpretation of Giorgio Germont in Traviata by G. Verdi.
Among his recent engagements, the debut in the role of Sir John Falstaff in the opera of the same name by Giuseppe Verdi, at the Petruzzelli Theater in Bari, under the conduction of Maestro Renato Palumbo, the diptych The Telephone/La Serva Padrona (G. Menotti/ G. B. Pergolesi) in the co-production of the Pergolesi-Spontini Foundation of Jesi and the Ente Concerti M. De Carolis of Sassari, directed by Jacopo Fo, G. Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari