John Fiore (Conductor)

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American born conductor John Fiore is concurrently the musical director of two major musical institutions in the heart of Germany. He is Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (DOR),^[1] a repertory opera company having houses in the neighboring Rhineland cities of Düsseldorf and Duisburg; and is Generalmusikdirektor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker^[2]. Keeping an intensive and extensive schedule each season with both institutions, with their vast operatic and symphonic repertoire, and through work in major houses and orchestras, Maestro Fiore is now widely recognized throughout Germany and central Europe.

The 2007/2008 season is Mr. Fiore's ninth as DOR Chief Conductor, and his eighth and final season as Generalmusikdirektor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker^[3]. At the DOR, Mr. Fiore leads The Fashion, a world premiere opera by Italian composer Giorgio Batistelli^[4], and new production of Verdi's Nabucco (Duisburg) and Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Duisburg). Revival with the company include two Wagner operas - Parsifal and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Berlioz' Les Troyens, Janacek's Jenufa and Verdi's La Traviata.

Elsewhere in 07/08, Mr. Fiore once again returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper for performances of Carmen. He also returns to the Prague National Theater for a revival of La Boheme in December 2007 - continuing a relationship which began in 2005, when he led Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen for the company, a co-production with the DOR, and the first complete Ring Cycle in that company's history, and the first to be produced in Prague since the end of War War II. Mr. Fiore has since returned to Prague for a new production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West, (to be revived in March and April of 2008) as well as concerts at the famed Prague Spring Festival, and an open-air performance of excerpts from Wagner's Ring arranged by John Fiore. 07/08 also has Mr. Fiore making his debut with the Norwegian Opera (Oslo) conducting a concertant performance of Wagner's Götterdämmerung.

With the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Mr. Fiore conducts five of the orchestra's symphonic subscription programs per season, as well as leading concerts of the orchestra in neighboring cities, presiding at youth and family concerts, and lecturing at the "Impulse" lecture series, in which Mo. Fiore introduces the Düsseldorf public to major works of the evening's concert. He concludes his final season with performances of Mahler's Symphony No. 8, together with a world Premiere of Ruzicka's Maelstrom für großes Orchester, commissioned by the Tonhalle.

Mo. Fiore is particularly well known among the international opera houses. As a frequent guest of the Metropolitan Opera for over a decade, he led many works, among them the MET's première production of Dvorak's Rusalka, (1993, reviving it again in 1997) as well as Aida, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Ballo in Maschera, Carmen, and most recently, Tosca (03/04). In Germany, he appears often at Munich's Bayerische Staatsoper (Un Ballo in Maschera, Aida, , Nabucco, Der Fliegende Holländer, Tosca, Carmen), and the Dresden State Opera (Arabella, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Nabucco, Aida, La Traviata, La Cenerentola). Prior to his DOR appointment, Mo. Fiore frequently led productions at the Cologne Opera, the company where he made his German debut in 1990 with Manon Lescaut. He returned many times for a diverse repertoire of Strauss, Wagner, Verdi, Puccini and Janacek, and also conducted the city's renowned Gürzenich Orchester in many symphonic programs.

He has appeared at Italy's leading cities (Genoa: La Bohème and La Gioconda; Rome La Traviata), and in the United States, has long enjoyed relationships with both the Chicago Lyric and San Francisco Operas, and also has been to the Houston Grand Opera to lead Tannhäuser (2001).

In recent seasons Mr. Fiore has also been exploring seminal twentieth century works - he is nearing completion of the complete cycle of the major Janacek operas, and has conducted Berg's Lulu and Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, to name but two. In summer 2003 led the world prèmiere of Bright Sheng's Madame Mao (Santa Fe Opera, another company with which he has had a long history), and in January 2005 conducted the highly successful world premiere of Christian Jost's Vipern for the DOR.

Born in New York City into a musical family, Mr. Fiore received his earliest musical training from his father, a pianist and choral director, and his mother, a singer. His family moved to Seattle, where he studied piano, cello and other string instruments. Mr. Fiore began his professional musical activities at age 14 as a pianist and coach for the Seattle Opera's annual production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. He later attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. In 1981, he joined the staff of the Santa Fe Opera, where he developed an affinity for the operas of Richard Strauss.

Within a short period of time, he became a prized assistant in North America's three most respected companies - the San Francisco, Chicago Lyric and Metropolitan Operas. In the summer of 1986 he went to Europe, assisting Zubin Mehta for Die Meistersinger in Florence, and then to the Bayreuth Festival, where he worked with Daniel Barenboim on Tristan und Isolde, returning the next year for Parsifal and Tristan and again in 1988 for the Harry Kupfer Ring production. During this period he also freelanced as an assistant to the great Leonard Bernstein. Also in 1986, he was ready to begin his own conducting career, and he made his debut at the San Francisco Opera, conducting Gounod's Faust.

In 1990 he embarked on an international symphonic career, making debuts on three continents. Since then Mr. Fiore has continued to build his repertoire and orchestral relationships each season. In the summer of 1996, stepping in for Robert Shaw, Mr. Fiore made a critically acclaimed debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl conducting Verdi's Requiem. In North America, he has since conducted the Boston Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, New York Chamber Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Toronto Symphony, to name a few. In Europe, orchestral engagements include the Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bamberger Sinfoniker, Gürzenich Orchester, Orchester Rheinland-Pfalz, (in Germany); Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Firenze and Accademia di Santa Cecilia (in Italy); Orchestre National de Lyon and Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier (in France), and Basle Radio Symphony and Orchestra Radio Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland). ^[5]

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