FIO 2025 Artists-in-Residence
proudly announcing our guest faculty for FIO ITALIA 2025:
Eva Mei
Soprano Eva Mei has given masterclasses at FIO ITALIA for several seasons. We’re thrilled to announce that in 2025, she will be joining us for a full week-long residency.
Bio: Eva Mei was born in Fabriano and studied at the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini in Florence. In 1990, she won the Caterina-Cavalieri Prize at the Mozart Competition in Vienna for her interpretation of Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). She debuted the role at the Vienna Staatsoper soon after. Mei is best-known as an interpreter of bel canto and Verdi repertoire. Among Mei’s most well-known roles are Alice Ford (Falstaff), Norina (Don Pasquale), Violetta (La Traviata), Alcina, Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), and Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro).
Clay Hilley
Tenor Clay Hilley will be joining FIO ITALIA 2025 for a two-week residency.
Bio: Winning critical acclaim for “vocal heft, clarion sound and stamina” (New York Times) and for performances described as “close to perfection – powerful, subtle, intelligent, every word crystal clear” (Financial Times), American Heldentenor Clay Hilley continues to garner success in an ever-growing list of opera’s most monumental heroic roles. He is the winner of the 2024 Richard Tucker Music Foundation Award. Hilley’s recent highlights include the title roles in Tannhöuser, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal; Calaf (Turandot), Siegfried (Der Ring des Nibelungen), Florestan (Fidelio), Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Samson (Samson et Dalila).