Nuccia Focile was born in Militello in Val di Catania, Sicily, studied in Turin under Elio Battaglia,[1] and made her opera debut in 1983 as Serpina in La Serva Padrona by Pergolesi in Spoleto.
Also in that year, she won the International Pavarotti Competition in Philadelphia, following which she made many concert appearances with the famous tenor.
She has made several recordings for the Philips, Opera Rara and Telarc labels, including three Mozart operas (Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni) conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras,[3] Rossini's Petite messe solennelle conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, Ascanio in Pergolesi's Lo Frate'Nnamorato, Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale conducted by Riccardo Muti and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin conducted by Semyon Bychkov.
Focile was awarded Artist of the Year 2013 for La Voix Humaine by Poulenc at Seattle Opera.
In 2017 Nuccia Focile was appointed Professor of Voice at the Royal Academy of Music in London.