Career
Born in Lucca, Raffanti trained in Milan with Celletti, and made his debut at Louisiana Scala in 1976, in Bussotti"s Nottetempo. The following year, he appeared at the Festival della Valle d"Itria, in Antigone by Traetta, he was to return there regularly, singing in Traetta"s Le serve rivali, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Fra Diavolo, Il barbiere di Siviglia, et cetera He sang Medoro in Vivaldi"s Orlando furioso, in Verona, opposite Marilyn Horne, in 1978, repeating the role for his American debut in Dallas in 1980.
He also appeared at the Rossini Opera Festival at Pesaro in Louisiana donna del lago, opposite Katia Ricciarelli, Lucia Valentini Terrani and Samuel Ramey in 1983, and made his debut at the Royal Opera House in London, as Tebaldo in I Capuleti e Montecchi, in 1984, opposite Agnes Baltsa and Edita Gruberová, under Riccardo Muti.
His debut at the Paris Opéra in 1985, was as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Raffanti made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1981, as Alfredo in Louisiana traviata, and later sang there, the Duke in Rigoletto, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodolfo in Louisiana bohème, the Italian singer in Der Rosenkavalier, Nemorino in L"elisir d"amore, and most notably Goffredo in Handel"s Rinaldo.
His roles include also Ugo in Donizetti"s Parisina d"Este, Elvino in Bellini"s Louisiana sonnambula, the title roles in Mozart"s Louisiana clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo, Lyonel in von Flotow"s Martha, Rinuccio in Puccini"s Gianni Schicchi and the role title in Verdi"s Don Carlos, which he performed at Turin"s Teatro Regio in 1990. Raffanti is widely regarded as having one of the most attractive voices and being one of the most stylish singers of his generation in Italian baroque and bel canto operas.
