Born in Mantua, Leonardo Cortellazzi trained at La Scala Academy in Milan under Leyla Gencer. He appeared on the Milan stage in the roles of Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Alberto (L'Occasione fa il ladro), Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Tempo (Le Triomphe du temps et de la désillusion) and took part in the premiere of Kurtág's Fin de partie. He has been invited to perform on the major Italian stages (La Fenice in Venice, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Teatro Filarmonico and Arena in Verona, Teatro Lirico in Cagliari) in a vast repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to contemporary works, including Mozart, Verdi and bel canto (Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Nemorino in L'Élixir d'amour, Alfredo in La Traviata, Admete in Alceste, Idraote in Armida, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Fenton in Falstaff, Camille de Rosillon in The Merry Widow, Fadinard in Le Chapeau de paille d'Italie, etc.). He has sung the title role of Pacini's Don Giovanni at the Wilbad Rossini Festival, Goffredo (Rinaldo) at La Fenice in Venice and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Toffolo (Le Baruffe) and Jaquino (Fidelio) at La Fenice in Venice, Mastro Trabucco (La Force du destin) at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Lord Percy (Anna Bolena) at the Sydney Opera House. More recently, he has performed the roles of Don Ottavio in Tokyo and Venice, Lord Arturo Bucklaw (Lucia di Lammermoor) in Milan, Nagg (Fin de partie) in Budapest, Hamburg, Cologne and Dortmund. In the 2024-2025 season, he plays Il Principe (La Vita è signo) at La Fenice in Venice and Venanzio (Il Nome della rosa) at La Scala in Milan.At the Opéra national de Paris: Fin de partie (Nagg), 2022; Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Andrès, Cochenille, Pitichinaccio, Frantz), 2023; Adriana Lecouvreur (L'Abate di Chazeuil), 2024