Rachele Stanisci was born and studied in Brindisi before completing her studies at the School for Opera Singers at La Scala. In 1989 she won the Maria Caniglia competition in Sulmona and in 1991 the AsLiCo competition, making her début as Fiorilla in Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia and both Mimì and Musetta in La Bohème. Her later more dramatic rôles have included the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro at La Fenice, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at the Bassano Opera Festival, Alice in Falstaff at the Leipzig Opera, Nedda in Pagliacci in Santiago in Chile and Mimì in La Bohème in Hanover. Her highly successful career has brought performances in major houses throughout Europe.