Biography

Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein since 2017 and Music Director of the Festival Rossini in Wildbad since 2012, thanks to his original talent, he quickly established himself on the international scene as one of the most appreciated musicians of his generation . After the acclaimed debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, which took place in 2001 with the direction of the Il viaggio a Reims, he rose to the podium of the most important opera houses in the world and some prestigious orchestras such as the Orchestra Nazionale dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen Orchestra at the Westfalenpark in Dortmund, the Moscow State Philharmonic Society at the Ciakovsky Hall in Moscow and the Württembergische Philharmonie in Reutlingen.

Numerous productions of rare and best known titles that he conducted in the past seasons receiving praise from critics and warm welcome from the audience.

Among his latest successes are the productions of Maria Stuarda at the Teatro alla Scala, Don Pasquale, Amica and Mosè in Egitto at the Teatro dell'Opera of Rome, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio and Otello at Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Il barbiere di Siviglia at La Fenice in Venice, Rigoletto and Il turco in Italia at San Carlo in Naples, Turandot at the Bolshoi in Moscow, Otello, Il Signor Bruschino and La sposa di Messina at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival, Lucia di Lammermoor at the Donizetti Theater Bergamo and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Carmenat the Bregenzer Festspiele and at the Semperoper in Dresden, Tosca at the Verona Arena and at the Frankfurt Opera.

In the coming seasons he will conduct several new productions including I Puritani and La Bohème in Düsseldorf and Duisburg, Il Trovatore in Leipzig, Le comte d'Hoffmann and Donna del lago in Zurich, Il barbiere di Siviglia at Covent Garden in London.

His discography includes, among other titles, Ugo, Conte di Parigi by Donizetti (Dynamic), Il marito disperato by Cimarosa (Bongiovanni), Stabat Mater, Ciro in Babilonia, Mosè in Egitto, Semiramide, Guillaume Tell and Otello by Rossini, La sposa di Messina by Vaccaj (Naxos), Lucia di Lammermoor (Dynamic DVD), Maria Stuarda (DVD Arthaus Musik).

 

Graduated in Music Disciplines at the Bolonia University, he graduated in Piano at the Bolonia Conservatory and Conducting at the Milan Conservatory. He specialized at the Chigiana Academy of Siena with Franco Donadoni and Ennio Morricone. The meeting with Gianluigi Gelmetti in 1997 marked an artistic turning point in his career as a conductor, allowing him to follow numerous productions and concerts as his assistant.

 

He is Professor in Orchestral Conducting at the "A. Scarlatti" Conservatory in Palermo.

 

In 2018 the President Sergio Mattarella awarded him the honorary title of Ufficiale dell’Ordine “al merito della Repubblica italiana”.