Argentinean of Italian origin, he trained in bel canto in Buenos Aires and is now considered one of the world's greatest countertenors: Franco Fagioli, winner of the ‘Abbiati’ prize in 2011, recounts his unusual musical journey by paying homage to the last famous castrato in the album ‘The last castrato. Arias for Velluti', to be released on Friday 28 February by Château de Versailles Spectacles, recorded with the Choir and Orchestra of the Opéra Royal conducted by Stefan Plewniak. For his new disc, Fagioli selects a collection of warhorses by Giovanni Battista Velluti, an Italian composer and singer who left an indelible mark on both the musicians of his time and those of later generations. Gioachino Rossini and Saverio Mercadante, among the most important opera composers of the 19th century, together with the lesser-known - but worthy of rediscovery for their industriousness and intense exchange with Velluti - Paolo Bonfichi, Giuseppe Nicolini and Francesco Morlacchi, are in fact the authors featured in the recording. ‘This project is rooted in my love for Belcanto,’ says Franco Fagioli, ‘which developed while I was a student at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, a place with a solid Italian operatic tradition. At the time, I was the first countertenor to study in the theatre's singing school, so much so that there was not even sheet music for my repertoire. That is why I started to perform mezzo-soprano roles, a term that defines my vocal register even better than countertenor and that I believe should be used beyond the genre to which it belongs'. Some excerpts from the disc will be performed by Fagioli on 30 January in a recital that will see him perform for the first time at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, with the foundation's orchestra and George Petrou on the podium.