Martina Franca has already applauded him in the roles of the Devil (in La conversione di San Guglielmo Duca d’Aquitania) and Don Ruy Gomez de Silva (in Ernani). This year the bass Michele Pertusi will return to the Festival della Valle d’Itria, where he will receive the 2018 Rodolfo Celletti Bel Canto Prize, established in 2010 and dedicated to the memory of the outstanding artistic director of the Festival.
Following Mariella Devia, Daniela Dessì, Paolo Coni, Lella Cuberli, Alberto Zedda, Luciana Serra, Ruggero Raimondi and Ramón Vargas, the traditional award will this year go to the singer from Parma, who will star in Martina Franca on 18 July in a Soirée Rossini to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of the Swan of Pesaro. Accompanying him will be soprano Maria Aleida, violinist Yury Revich, clarinettist Nicolai Pfeffer and pianist Simone di Crescenzo.