Nicola Luisotti

Nicola Luisotti
Background information
Born	(1961-11-26) November 26, 1961
Occupations	Conductor
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Deutsche Gramophone, EMI, Dynamic, Arte Nova
Website	www.nicolaluisotti.com

Nicola Luisotti (born 26 November 1961 in Viareggio, Province of Lucca) is an Italian musician. He has been music director of San Francisco Opera since September 2009 and music director of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples since 2012.^[1] He served as the principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra from April 2009 to the spring of 2012.^[2][3]

Early life

Luisotti began studying music as a child, with lessons on the church organ; by age eleven he was the director of the church choir. He later trained as a pianist, with secondary degrees in composition, trumpet and voice. Upon completing his formal study, he traveled between Milan, where he was a rehearsal pianist for La Scala, and Florence, where he was a member of the chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Subsequent posts allowed him to assist such conductors as Lorin Maazel and Riccardo Muti at La Scala. His earliest full-time position was as chorus master for La Fenice in Venice.

Professional career

Luisotti’s international debut came in 2002 leading a new production of Il trovatore at the Staatstheater Stuttgart.^[4] Luisotti became Stuttgart's main conductor for the Italian repertory, conducting Tosca, Turandot, Madama Butterfly and Otello in 2006. His Stuttgart Il trovatore was met with critical acclaim,^[5] and within weeks he was offered a debut engagement at Paris Opera. Other early invitations came from the Canadian Opera Company (Un ballo in maschera in 2003), Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice (Il viaggio a Reims in 2003 and Simon Boccanegra in 2004), and Munich’s Bavarian State Opera (Tosca in 2004). Luisotti has conducted at nearly every major opera company across the globe, including the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; the Teatro alla Scala; the Metropolitan Opera; Oper Frankfurt; Venice’s Teatro La Fenice; the Semperoper Dresden; the Vienna Staatsoper; Madrid’s Teatro Real; Los Angeles Opera; and Seattle Opera. He made his debut in Japan with a staged production of Tosca at Suntory Hall, where he has also led Turandot, La bohème, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, and Così fan tutte.

Marcello Giordani Elisabete Matos Nicola Luisotti Curtain Call

Luisotti has developed relationships with many orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Filarmonica delLa Scala, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonia Orchestra , Rome's Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia , Frankfurt's Alte Oper Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Budapest Magyar Rádió , Philharmoniker Hamburg, Hr-Sinfonieorchester, Tokyo's NHK Symphony, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de Espana, Russian National Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tokyo Symphony, and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. Luisotti also led concerts in Beijing in conjunction with the 2008 Olympic Games. In the United States, he has conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Atlanta Symphony. He has also led the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in performances presented by Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall on the campus of UC Berkeley.

In the 2010-11 season, Luisotti led a new production of Attila by Gabriele Lavia at La Scala, a co-production with San Francisco Opera that was mounted there in 2012. The conductor led the 100th-anniversary performances of La fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera and was presented with the Premio Puccini Prize by the Fondazione Festival Puccini.

Luisotti's discography includes a complete recording of Stiffelio and Duets, featuring Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón on the Deutsche Grammophon label. He is also on the podium of a DVD recording of the Met’s La bohème, starring Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas (EMI), and their centennial production of La fanciulla del West (Grammophon).^[6][7]

San Francisco Opera

Luisotti made his San Francisco Opera debut in 2005 conducting La forza del destino. The announcement of his appointment as the company's music director was made in 2007; Luisotti is San Francisco Opera's third music director, following the tenures of John Pritchard and Donald Runnicles. Luisotti returned to the company in 2008 to conduct La bohème before assuming the music directorship in 2009.

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley has stated that one of his goals for the company is to reinvigorate the core Italian repertory that was prevalent in the early years of San Francisco Opera, which was founded by a group of Italian Americans. He appointed Luisotti with this in mind and plans for the conductor to lead three to four productions each season, with one breakout, non-Italian production each year. Since 2009 these non-Italian operas have included Salome, Le nozze di Figaro, Carmen, Lohengrin, and Così fan tutte.

In his inaugural season, Luisotti led Il trovatore, Salome, and Otello in fall 2009 and La fanciulla del West in summer 2010. Since then he has also led Aida, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, Don Giovanni, Carmen, Attila, Rigoletto, Tosca, Lohengrin, and Così fan tutte.

Teatro di San Carlo

Nicola Luisotti was appointed as music director of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples in February 2012. Since then he has led two Verdi works: I masnadieri and the Requiem Mass. In March 2013, Teatro San Carlo artistic director Vincenzo De Vivo said of Luisotti, "He has his heart in the past, but his head in the future."^[8]

External links

• Nicola Luisotti's official website
• San Francisco Opera's official website Nicola Luisotti biography
• Nicola Luisotti biography on Tokyo Symphony Orchestra's website
• Interview, Interview with Nicola Luisotti at MusicalCriticism.com
• Interview,

References