Antonio Pappano © Musaccio and Ianniello

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed for his charismatic leadership and inspirational performances in both symphonic and operatic repertoire, Sir Antonio Pappano has been Music Director of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden since 2002. The incoming Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from the 2024/2025 season, becoming Designate from the 2023/2024 season, he stepped down in 2023 as Music Director of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, having held the post since 2005. Nurtured as a pianist, repetiteur and assistant conductor at many of the most important opera houses of Europe and North America, including at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and several seasons at the Bayreuth Festival as musical assistant to Daniel Barenboim, Pappano was appointed Music Director of Oslo’s Den Norske Opera in 1990, and from 1992-2002 served as Music Director of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. From 1997-1999 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Pappano is in demand as an opera conductor at the highest international level, including with the Metropolitan Opera New York, the State Operas of Vienna and Berlin, the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Théâtre du Châtelet and the Teatro alla Scala.

His repertoire at the Royal Opera House has been notably wide-ranging, generating acclaim in productions including Ariadne auf Naxos, Wozzeck, Falstaff, La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Aida, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Il Trittico, Parsifal, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Lulu, Les Vêpres Siciliennes, Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci, Norma, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Guillaume Tell, Andrea Chenier, Boris Godunov, The Queen of Spades, Parsifal, Werther, Semiramide, Szymanowski’s Król Roger, and the world premiere productions of Birtwistle’s The Minotaur and Turnage’s Anna Nicole.

Pappano has appeared as a guest conductor with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna, New York and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the Concertgebouworkest, the Chicago and Boston Symphonies, the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Orchestre de Paris. He maintains a particularly strong relationships with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Forthcoming highlights include his debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and return visits to the Concertgebouworkest and Staatskapelle Dresden. Pappano will also appear at the Salzburg Easter Festival with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in a residency including performances of Verdi’s Requiem, and a staging of Ponchielli’s opera La Gioconda.

Pappano has been an exclusive recording artist for Warner Classics (formerly EMI Classics) since 1995, and his discography features numerous complete operas, including Don Carlo, La Rondine, Guillaume Tell, Il Trittico, Werther, Il Trovatore, Tristan und Isolde, and Aida. 2022 saw the release on Sony Classical of Verdi’s Otello, and a disc of Verdi duets with Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tezier, and Vaughan William’s 4th and 6th symphonies for LSO Live, and in 2023 Warner released the first studio recording of Puccini's Turandot with the complete conclusion by Alfano, recorded in Rome with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Pappano’s orchestral recordings with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia include Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, Rachmaninov’s 2nd, Mahler’s 6th, Dvorak’s 9th and Tchaikovsky’s 4th, 5th and 6th symphonies, Respighi’s Roman Trilogy, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Petite Messe Solenelle and selected Overtures, Britten’s War Requiem, and Verdi’s Requiem, and his discography also documents his work with other ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra and Berliner Philharmoniker, and the orchestras of the Royal Opera House and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, in music ranging from Pergolesi and Mendelssohn through to Panufnik, Boesmans and Maxwell Davies. Numerous productions from the Royal Opera House have been released on DVD, including Carmen, Les Troyens, Parsifal, Simon Boccanegra, Le nozze di Figaro, and Manon Lescaut. His recordings have received extensive accolades including Classic BRIT, ECHO Klassik, BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone Awards.

As a pianist, Antonio Pappano appears as an accompanist with some of the most celebrated singers, including Joyce DiDonato, Diana Damrau, Gerald Finley and Ian Bostridge. He has also partnered singers and instrumental soloists on disc, including in operatic recitals with Nina Stemme, Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann, concerto recordings with soloists including Leif Ove Andsnes, Maxim Vengerov, Janine Jansen, Jan Lisiecki and Beatrice Rana, and chamber recitals with Ian Bostridge, Barbara Bonney and Joyce DiDonato. He has a strong commitment to nurturing young singers and instrumentalists, close connections with the Aldeburgh and Verbier Festivals, leading concerts and masterclasses.

Antonio Pappano was born in London to Italian parents and moved with his family to the United States at the age of 13. He studied piano with Norma Verrilli, composition with Arnold Franchetti and conducting with

Gustav Meier. His awards and honours include Gramophone’s ‘Artist of the Year’ in 2000, the 2003 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, the 2004 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award, and the Bruno Walter prize from the Académie du Disque Lyrique in Paris. In 2012 he was created a Cavaliere di Gran Croce of the Republic of Italy, and a Knight of the British Empire for his services to music, and in 2015 he was named the 100th recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal, the body’s highest honour. He has also developed a notable career as a speaker and presenter, and has fronted several critically-acclaimed BBC Television documentaries including ‘Opera Italia’, ‘Pappano’s Essential Ring Cycle’ and ‘Pappano’s Classical Voices’.

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