Carlo Rizzi

Having performed more than 100 different operas across the world, Italian maestro Carlo Rizzi – born in Milan, Italy on July 19, 1960 - stands as one of the world's finest contemporary conductors, renowned for his passionate leadership and punchy, energetic style. The range of his work is especially impressive, incorporating many of the world's most famous operas alongside relative obscurities by the likes of Bellini and Donizetti. In his youth, Rizzi's parents took him to operas at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and, after graduating from his home city's music conservatory, he studied with esteemed conductors Vladimir Delman and Franco Ferrara. Making his conducting debut in 1982 when he led a performance of Gaetano Donizetti's melodrama L'ajo Nell'imbarazzo, he established his reputation nationally before first appearing in the UK in 1988. Later, he led and the London Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Verdi's La Traviata, which became his first album for the Teldec label in 1992 (and third overall). Famous Opera Duets, featuring singers Jerry Hadley and Thomas Hampson, was released in 1993 and was followed by a series of acclaimed albums including Gounod: Faust (1994), Rossini: La Cenerentola (1996), Bizet: L'Arlesienne, Carmen Suite (1997), Écho (2017), and Espoir (2017). Carlo Rizzi had two long, acclaimed spells as music director for the Welsh National Opera company in the 1990s and 2000s, and continued to perform at some of the world's greatest venues including the Metropolitan Opera, the Opera de Paris and the Dutch National Opera. In September 2022, he released the album Leoncavallo: Singari, which featured Krassimira Stoyanova, Arsen Soghomonyan, Stephen Gaertner, Lukasz Golinski, the Opera Rara Chorus, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

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