Bel Canto in Tuscany is humbled to name its scholarship fund in honor of beloved pianist, coach, and collaborator Laura Pasqualetti, who lent her extraordinary gifts to our program since 2016. At $45,000, the lofty goal of the fund represents full tuition and room and board for 10 young and emerging artists for all three weeks of Bel Canto in Tuscany's 2022 summer program or partial scholarships for up to 30 students.

With world-renowned faculty representing the major conservatories and opera houses, BCT has become a premier summer destination for young and emerging vocal artists seeking to supplement their conservatory education with necessary skills in vocal technique, interpretation, language, history, and more. Following summers spent at Bel Canto in Tuscany, alumni have been cast in roles on the stages of The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Theater Aachen, Rossini in Wildbad Belcanto Opera Festival as well as with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, among others. Our former participants have also joined young artist programs that include those of Santa Fe Opera and the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. 

Gifts to this fund made in honor of our beloved colleague serve to preserve the history and tradition of Bel Canto while ensuring the future of our field.

About Laura:

Ms. Pasqualetti received her diploma at the musical Institute L.Boccherini in Lucca in 1983 where she specialized in solo repertoire with the pianists R.Bottai, Lya De Barberis (at Saint Cecilia Academy in Rome) and Jorg Demus( at the RAI in Trieste ) and in chamber music repertoire with “Trio di Trieste “ and “Trio Tchaikovsky. At the same time, she completed her university studies at Pisa University with a degree in Humanities, with a focus on Music History.

While she won numerous national and international piano competitions and participated in important festivals and concerts as a soloist and as a member of chamber music ensembles from two pianos to a string quintet), she was best known as a collaborator in opera performances. Starting in 1992, she became “Maestro di sala” in theatres like Pisa, Lucca, Livorno, Ravenna festival and Torre del Lago Festival. As a collaborator to opera singers she performed in the main European capital cities and across the globe in Japan, the USA, Argentina and Cuba. She collaborated on master courses on vocal technique and interpretation run by Desderi, Cupido, Ricciarelli, and Kabaivanska among others. In June 2005 she began working as “Maestro di sala” with Riccardo Muti, and in 2016, she joined the faculty of Bel Canto in Tuscany, effortlessly endearing herself to the next generation of emerging global opera talent. She died in August of 2021, leaving behind a daughter and a devoted community of students, fans, and admirers.