Music historian Charles Burney counted him among the three great castrato voices of the late 18th century: Giovanni Rubinelli. As the era of opera seria and castrati came to an end, he was one of the last great protagonists. Countless composers wrote for his voice, which was not the castrato's favorite high soprano, but an alto. He made his debut at age 16 in Ludwigsburg in Antonio Sacchini's Calliroe, sang in Salieri's Europa riconosciuta at the opening of La Scala in Milan in 1778, and was a guest in London in Handel's Giulio Cesare in the late 1780s. Countertenor Filippo Mineccia creates a sensitive and virtuosic portrait of this period.