Conductor
Italy
“The Bohème that he directed last night was fresh, agile, transparent in sound, with so many exquisite details, well balanced between brilliance and emotion, fun and melancholy, youth and pain..”
(Alberto Mattioli, La Stampa about La bohème at Teatro alla Scala)
Acclaimed worldwide as one of the greatest interpreters of the Italian and French repertoire, his prestigious career has taken him to the most important theatres and at the head of the best orchestras.
Born in Turin, he studied at the Conservatory bassoon, piano and later composition and conducting at the ‘Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst’ in Vienna with Karl Österreicher. He joined the orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala at a very young age and later became Claudio Abbado’s assistant at the Filarmonica della Scala. In 1985 he began his career as a conductor, which has taken him to the world’s leading theatres, in addition to La Scala: Royal Opera House in London (Covent Garden), Metropolitan in New York, Opéra National de Paris, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and many others. He is invited to conduct at all the most prestigious festivals, such as Rossini Opera Festival, Aix en Provence, Chorégies d’Orange, Savonlinna, Santa Fé and Aspen.
In 2012, he was awarded the Bellini d’Oro prize for ‘his decisive contribution to restoring the composer’s original dictation’ through his numerous performances of the composer’s major operas.
Highlights of recent seasons include his most recent return for La bohème at Royal Opera Covent Garden in London, where he had already conducted Don Pasquale, La fille du régiment and Il turco in Italia, Tosca and Don Pasquale at Opéra National de Paris, a new production of La sonnambula at Semperoper Dresden, La fille du régiment at Teatro Regio in Turin, L’elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots at La Monnaie in Brussels, Donizetti’s Viva La Mamma at Teatro Real in Madrid, Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Pasquale at the Vienna State Opera, La traviata at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (where he also conducted a gala concert with Vittorio Grigolo), and Simon Boccanegra with Placido Domingo at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia.
He has recorded for Decca, Emi, Deutsche Grammophone and Sony with the world’s leading performers. In 2006 he received the Diapason d’or award for conducting Bellini’s La Sonnambula with Natalie Dessay, recognised by critics as a landmark recording of this opera.
LATEST PERFORMANCES: La fille du régiment at Opéra National de Paris; Massenet’s Manon at Teatro Regio di Torino; Don Pasquale and Il barbiere di Siviglia at Teatro alla Scala; Lucia di Lammermoor at Staatsoper Hamburg; La bohème at Royal Opera London; Il barbiere di Siviglia at Semperoper Dresden; L’elisir d’amore Vienna State Opera; Don Pasquale in Santiago de Chile.
FORTHCOMING PROJECTS: La fille du régiment at Teatro alla Scala and he will return to Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires, Teatro Principal in Santiago de Chile, Vienna State Opera, Opera de Tenerife and Opéra National de Paris.
