Nicola Luisotti

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 also serves as principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.^[1][2]

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. 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 in 2002 leading a new production of Il trovatore at the Stuttgart State Theater was met with critical acclaim, 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 Metropolitan Opera; Oper Frankfurt; Venice’s Teatro La Fenice; 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 and has established growing relationships with the orchestras of Zagreb, Sofia, Genoa, Turin, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, Tokyo’s NHK Symphony, Munich’s Bavarian Rundfunk Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Rome’s Santa Cecilia Orchestra.

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).

In the 2010-11 season, Luisotti leads a new production of Attila at La Scala as well as 100th-anniversary performances of La fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera, which premiered the work in 1910. On the concert stage, Luisotti conducts the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt's Museum Orchestra at the Alte Oper and Hessischer Rundfunk Orchestra, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra and Milan’s Filarmonica della Scala.

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. 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.

Luisotti returned to the company in 2008 to conduct La bohème before assuming the music directorship in 2009. In his inaugural season, Luisotti led Il trovatore, Salome, and Otello in fall 2009 and La fanciulla del West in summer 2010.

External links

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

References

1. ^ "San Francisco Opera appoints Nicola Luisotti as Music Director beginning in 2009-10 season" (PDF) (Press release). San Francisco Opera. 9 January 2007. http://sfopera.com/press/NLAnnouncement/2007NLAnnouncement.pdf. Retrieved 2010-03-12. 
2. ^ Joshua Kosman (10 January 2007). "Nicola Luisotti named Opera's music director, starting in 2009". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/10/DDGTFNF6OJ1.DTL. Retrieved 2010-03-12. 

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Name	Luisotti, Nicola
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Date of birth	26 November 1961
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