Margherita Maria Sala is an Italian operatic contralto recognised internationally for her performances in Baroque opera, oratorios, and in concerts. She graduated in choral conducting from the Accademia Biennale before winning the Cesti International Singing Competition. In 2026, CPO released a recording of Vivaldi's L'Olimpiade, in which she sang the role of Aristea. She was born in Lecco, Italy, into a musical family. Both parents were musicians, and her early training included violin lessons with them as well as performing as part of the Famiglia Sala vocal ensemble. Her formal studies initially took her toward conducting: in 2017, she graduated in choral conducting from the Accademia Biennale di Formazione per Direttori di Coro in Bellinzona, where she studied with Marco Berrini. However, that same year she also sang in a recording of the opera La Secchia Rapita by Giulio Ricordi. She returned to singing full time soon afterward, winning first prize at the Cesti International Singing Competition in Innsbruck in 2020, along with two Festival Resonanzen prizes in Vienna. The following year brought her stage debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where she sang Filotete in Handel's Oreste, appearing with Franco Fagioli, with Maxim Emelyanychev conducting Il Pomo d'Oro. She has also performed on the same stage in Vivaldi's Orlando furioso and L'Olimpiade, both conducted by Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Her work with early-music repertoire also led to regular appearances at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, where she collaborated with Alessandro De Marchi on works including Pasquini's Idalma and an Italian-language version of Handel's Messiah, both of which were later recorded for CPO. Under Franco Fagioli, she was again a soloist in The Messiah, this time in English, for a Château de Versailles recording. Her engagements continued to broaden, including singing Bach's Magnificat, BWV 243, in France, and Handel's Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in Canada. Sala has also sung Vivaldi and Pergolesi with the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra at the invitation of Riccardo Muti, and in a rare staging of the opera Merope by Domenèch Terradella. She has appeared on a handful of other opera recordings for the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Naïve, and Alpha labels. ~ Prince Iwundu
