
Management: World
Manuela Custer was born in Novara and made her debut at the Teatro Regio in Turin with Rossini’s Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra and the role of Cherubino in Nozze di Figaro.
This immediately led to an international career which saw her appearing: in Luzern with Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges under Viotti, in Montecarlo with Mozart’s Così fan tutte under Accardo, in Verona, Genoa and Lille as Nicklausse in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann under Richard Bonynge, in Venice and Salzburg with Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans under Scimone, at the Istanbul International Festival first in the title role of Bertoni’s Orfeo under Scimone directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi, and afterwards as Irene in Vivaldi’s Bajazet directed by Pizzi under Fabio Biondi, at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Accademia Chigiana in Siena with Vivaldi’s Giustino and Arminio under Alan Curtis, at Martina Franca’s Festival with Donizetti’s La Zingara, at the Edinburgh International Festival with Rossini’s Zelmira, at Verona’s Teatro Filarmonico with Il Barbiere di Siviglia opposite Juan Diego Florez, at the Rome Opera with Faust, at Paris’ Theatre des Champs-Elysèes with Vivaldi’s Orlando Finto pazzo and Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, at Seville’s La Maestranza as Ottavia in Incoronazione di Poppea under Rousset directed by Graham Vick, at the Rossini Opera Festival with Il Vero omaggio, Le nozze di Teti e Peleo, La Gazzetta directed by Dario Fo and La Gazza ladra, at the Royal Festival Hall and at Theatre Royal Drury Lane with Donizetti’s Pia de’ Tolomei and Il diluvio universale, at Opéra de Lyon with Anna Bolena, at La Scala in Milan with Debussy’s La demoiselle élue under Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Cavalli’s Didone.
Ms. Custer’s discography includes: La rimembranza, La partenza, Il primo dolce affanno, L’esule di Granata, Pia de’ Tolomei, Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra, Zelmira, Il diluvio universale and Maria Stuarda for Opera Rara, Juditha Triumphans for Warner Fonit, Arminio for Virgin Classics.
Her latest engagements have included: Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari and at the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit, Vivaldi’s Bajazet at the Wiener Konzerthaus and in Yokohama under Fabio Biondi with Europa Galante, Italiana in Algeri at the Opèra de Toulon, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle in Malaga, Le Mans, Nantes and Angers with M° Aldo Ceccato, Tutino’s Le bel indiferent in Turin, Cavalli’s La Didone under Fabio Biondi and Galuppi’s Olimpiade under Andrea Marcon for La Fenice in Venice, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Fabio Luisi at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and in Florence under Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in Milan and Malaga under Aldo Ceccato, Garcia’s Il Califfo di Bagdad at the Granada Festival, Teatro La Zarzuela in Madrid and Palau de la Musica in Barcelona under Christophe Rousset (with a live cd recording), Falstaff under Gianandrea Noseda for the opening of the season of Turin’s Teatro Regio, where she returned for Salome under Noseda directed by Robert Carsen, Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Savona and Turin with Academia Montis Regalis, Donizetti’s Anna Bolena directed by Graham Vick in Palermo, Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso (Alcina) at the Amsterdam Konzertgebouw and at Santa Cecilia in Rome with Venice Baroque Orchestra and Andrea Marcon, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle in Leipzig and London with M° Riccardo Chailly (to be released on dvd Euroarts), Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann in Turin conducted by Emmanuel Villaume and Rossini's Italiana in Algeri at the Dallas Opera, Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans with Andrea Marcon and Venice Baroque Orchestra in Amsterdam and Baden-Baden.
Her future engagements include: Rossini’s Tancredi (Tancredi) in Turin, Rossini’s Italiana in Algeri at Gran Teatro de Cordoba and at Teatro Comunale in Florence, Rossini’s Guillaume Tell at the Amsterdam Konzertgebouw, Falstaff in Bilbao, Faust (Siebel) in Palma de Mallorca, Il diluvio universale (Ada) in St. Gallen, a Recital at the Via Stellae Festival in Santiago de Compostela.

Bellini
Capuleti e Montecchi (Romeo)
Zaira (Nerestano)
B. Britten
The rape of Lucretia (Lucretia)
Delibes
Lakmè (Malika)
Debussy
Pelleas et Melisande (Genevieve)
G. Donizetti
Pia de’ Tolomei (Rodrigo)
Anna Bolena (Smeton)
Lucrezia Borgia (Maffio Orsini)
Linda di Chamonix (Pierrotto)
Maria di Rohan (Armando)
W. Gluck
Orfeo (Orfeo)
C. Gounod
Faust (Siebel)
G. F. Händel
Agrippina (Agrippina, Ottone)
Giulio Cesare (Cornelia, Sesto, Tolomeo)
Ariodante (Ariodante)
Serse (Serse)
Semele (Juno, Ino)
Alcina (Ruggiero)
Arminio (Arminio)
Giustino (Giustino)
Orlando Furioso (Alcina)
J. Haydn
Il mondo della Luna (Lisetta)
P. Mascagni
L’amico Fritz (Beppe)
J. Massenet
Werther (Charlotte)
Don Quichotte (Dulcinèe)
J. Meyerbeer
Les Huguenots (Urbain)
Il Crociato in Egitto (Felicia)
Monteverdi
L’incoronazione di Poppea (Poppea, Ottavia)
Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria (Penelope)
Orfeo (Proserpina , Messaggera)
W. A. Mozart
Mitridate re di Ponto (Farnace)
La clemenza di Tito (Sesto)
J. Offenbach
Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Niklausse)
Orfeo all’inferno (Opinione pubblica)
La Perichole (Perichole)
La grande Duchesse (Duchesse)
G. Puccini
Madama Butterfly (Suzuki)
H. Purcell
Dido and Aeneas (Dido)
M.Ravel
L’enfant et les sortileges (L’enfant)
G. Rossini
Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina)
La Cenerentola (Angelina)
L’italiana in Algeri (Isabella)
Zelmira (Emma)
La gazza ladra (Pippo)
Ermione (Andromaca)
Il viaggio a Reims (Melibea)
J. Strauss
Il pipistrello (Orlowskij)
P. I. Tchaikowsky
Eugene Onegin (Olga)
Pikovaja Dama (Pauline)
A. Thomas
Mignon (Mignon)
G. Verdi
Falstaff (Meg)
A. Vivaldi
La Griselda (Griselda)
Tamerlano (Irene)
Orlando Furioso (Alcina)
Giustino (Anastasio)