Massimo Zanetti enjoys an international reputation both in the operatic and symphonic fields. He has collaborated for many years with renowned opera houses such as Berlin StaatsOper, Semperoper Dresden, Bayerische StaatsOper, Hamburg Staatsoper, Zürich Opera, Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), Opèra de Paris (Bastille), Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Regio di Torino and Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova. As Music Director of the Flemish Opera in Antwerp from 1999–2002, many of his productions met with great critical acclaim in the international press.

Over the last ten years, Zanetti has worked regularly at the Semperoper Dresden and has conducted new productions of Carmen, Otello, Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali, Le Nozze di Figaro and  Norma as well as numerous revivals (Don Carlos, Madama Butterfly, Bohème) and symphonic concerts with the Dresden Staatskapelle.

Zanetti is also a regular guest at Berlin’s Staatsoper where he made his highly acclaimed debut with a production of Norma in 2002 followed by an enthusiastically received new production of L’Italiana in Algieri and a revival of Carmen and Bohème. In 2007 he made his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper with a successful new production of Luisa Miller (directed by Klaus Guth) and conducted revivals there including Traviata.

Opera highlights of the last few seasons have included Zanetti’s highly acclaimed debut in a new production of Luisa Miller at the Opéra de Paris (Bastille) as well as Verdi’s Nabucco at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, a production which was taken to Savonlinna Opera Festival. He also conducted a successful production of Macbeth for San Francisco Opera and performances at the Verdi Festival in Parma of Rigoletto (2008) and Tosca (2009).

As a symphonic conductor Zanetti has worked with the Bamberg Symphony, Stuttgart Radio, NDR Symphony Hamburg, Weimar Staatskapelle, the City of Birmingham Symphony and the Hallé Orchestras as well as the New Zealand Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Finnish and Swedish Radio Orchestras. Following his Japanese debut with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, he was re-invited for a three week period in 2008 and these critically-acclaimed concerts were ranked amongst the top six performances for that season in an extensive audience poll conducted by the NHK alongside concerts by Dutoit and Blomstedt. In that same season he also made a successful debut with the Konzerthaus Orchestra, Berlin.

In 2010/11, Zanetti opened the season at the Opera Royal de Wallonie (Un Ballo in Maschera) and was reinvited to Teatro Parma’s prestigious Verdi Festival for a new production of  I Vespri Siciliani. He returned to the Berlin StaatsOper throughout the season to conduct productions of L'Elisir d'Amore and Don Carlo, and to Zurich, where he conducted La Fanciulla del West and Anna Bolena. In December 2010, he made an impressive debut with Opera Australia conducting performances of Madama Butterfly at the Sydney Opera House, and received immediate re-invitations for future seasons. Following a highly successful recent engagement with the Czech Philharmonic at Dvorak’s Prague Festival conducting Dvorak's oratorio The Spectre's Bride, he received a re-invitation to conduct Verdi's Requiem as well as returning to the Konzerthaus Orchestra, Berlin.

In the 2011/12 season, Zanetti opens at the Royal Swedish Opera conducting performances of La Bohème, and a symphonic programme at the Dvorak Prague Festival. Other symphonic highlights of the season include performances with the Weimar Staatskapelle, China Philharmonic, Guangzhou Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan. In the States, he has been invited to conduct a new production at the Chicago Lyric Opera (Lucia di Lammermoor), and in Europe he will conduct La Bohème at Teatro Regio di Torino, Turandot at Opernhaus Zuerich and Nabucco with Opera Bilbao.

Massimo Zanetti began his musical education in Milan at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi and has been the recipient of many prizes including the Forum Junger Künstler in Vienna, Franco Ferrara in Rome and the Donatella Flick International Conducting Competition in London.

 

Season 2011/2012