At this Opera Café, there will be a truly international flavour as we meet our local opera star from Lura together with her Italian opera friends.
“Pas de Deux” means “Dance for Two”, and the singers will perform some of the most beautiful Italian arias and duets by composers including Donizetti and Verdi – and perhaps a little Mozart as well.
Soprano: Flavia Askevold
Baritone: Antonio De Rosa
Pianist: Anna Rizzo
Flavia Askevold, soprano
Flavia Askevold is a 25-year-old Norwegian-Italian soprano. She grew up in Lura, Sandnes, and has been active in the music scene throughout her life.
She studied privately in Norway with Professor Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz and Matthew Marriot, and earned her bachelor’s degree at the Conservatory in Salerno under the guidance of Professor Susanne Bungaard. Askevold is currently continuing her studies at master’s level at the Conservatory in Salerno.
In 2024, she received the Sandnes Municipality Cultural Grant.
Askevold has taken part in a number of productions in both Italy and Norway. She has performed as a chorus singer in the Conservatory’s productions at Teatro Verdi in Salerno in the following operas: Suor Angelica and Cavalleria Rusticana in 2023, L’elisir d’amore in 2024, and Il cappello di paglia di Firenze in 2025. She has also sung in the chorus at Teatro Verdi in Salerno during the “Un’estate al Re” festival at Reggia di Caserta.
In July 2024, Askevold made her debut as Barbarina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at Accademia degli S. Vitati in Viterbo.
In June 2024, she appeared at the “Nessun Dorma” festival in Stintino, Sardinia, organised by Ars Aurelia, where she performed the roles of Despina in Così fan tutte and Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore.
In December 2025, she appeared as a soloist during the 25th anniversary of Sandnes Kulturhus, accompanied by the Sandnes Symphony Orchestra.
In July 2026, she made her debut in Puccini’s Suor Angelica as Suora Infermiera and Una Conversa, and in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi as Nella at Accademia degli S. Vitati in Viterbo.
Antonio De Rosa, baritone
Antonio De Rosa is a 32-year-old baritone from Naples, Italy. He earned his bachelor’s degree in opera at the Conservatorio Statale “Giuseppe Martucci” in Salerno and is currently studying for a master’s degree in opera and music theatre under Maestro Amedeo Moretti.
De Rosa began his professional career at Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Salerno, where he performed as a chorus singer during the 2022/2023 season in a number of productions, including Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Turandot, Manon Lescaut, Tosca, Pagliacci, La Vedova Allegra, Cavalleria Rusticana, and Aida.
In 2024, he continued his collaboration with the theatre, appearing in productions of La Bohème and L’italiana in Algeri.
In April 2024, he made his debut as Schaunard in Puccini’s La Bohème at Conway Hall in London as part of the Opera Studio programme organised by the London Performing Academy of Music under the direction of Chiara Angella, Silvio Zanon and Christian Cimei.
In November of the same year, De Rosa performed the role of Doctor Dulcamara in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at Teatro Verdi in Salerno, marking the opening of the 2024/2025 academic year at Conservatorio Martucci.
In December 2024, he took part in the same institution’s production of La Traviata, both as a chorus singer and in the role of Flora’s servant.
De Rosa’s solo work continued in 2025, once again at Teatro Verdi, where he performed the roles of Beaupertuis and Emilio in Nino Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze.
Anna Rizzo, piano
Anna Rizzo is a 23-year-old pianist from Calabria, Italy, and began playing the piano at the age of six, first under the guidance of her father and later with Mº Annamaria Pennella.
From 2014 to 2018, she studied with M° Pasquale Iannone, and until 2020 with Mº Massimo Bertucci.
In July 2023, she earned a master’s degree in piano at the “San Pietro a Majella” Conservatory in Naples under the guidance of M° Lino Costagliola, and at the same conservatory she completed a master’s degree in chamber music in July 2025 in the class of M° Valeria Lambias.
Rizzo has distinguished herself in more than fifty national and international competitions, winning both first prizes and outright first prizes.
In February 2024, she became a semi-finalist in the national “Premio delle Arti” competition, held at the Conservatory in Cagliari on behalf of the Naples Conservatory.
She is currently studying for a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at Federico II University in Naples.
She studies with Mº Roberto Giordano, first at the Accademia Internazionale di Imola “Incontri col Maestro”, and currently at the “Cantiere Musicale Internazionale” in Mileto.
In 2021, she was awarded a scholarship from the Rotary Club in Vibo Valentia.
Masterclasses with E. Pace, V. Samoshko, A. Pompa-Baldi, J. Vanden Eynden, A. Deljavan, W. G. Naboré, B. Lupo and A. Lucchesini have been important to her artistic development.
She made her orchestral debut at Teatro Kursaal Santa Lucia in Bari, where she performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
She also performs as a duo with her sister Maria Claudia, who is a violinist.
Since September 2025, she has held a permanent position as accompanist at the “Giuseppe Martucci” Conservatory in Salerno.
