CARLO RIZZI
CONDUCTORARTISTIC DIRECTOR – OPERA RARA
CONDUCTOR LAUREATE – WELSH NATIONAL OPERA
CARLO RIZZI
CONDUCTOR
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR – OPERA RARA
CONDUCTOR LAUREATE – WELSH NATIONAL OPERA
ABOUT
Carlo Rizzi holds a long-standing reputation as one of the world’s foremost operatic conductors, in demand as a guest artist at the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals. Equally at home in the opera house and the concert hall, his vast repertoire spans everything from the foundation works of the operatic and symphonic canon to rarities by Bellini, Cimarosa and Donizetti to Giordano, Pizzetti and Montemezzi. Combining a deep expertise in the vocal art with theatrical flair and the practical collaborative skills honed over decades of experience in the world’s finest theatres, he is acclaimed by singers and audiences alike as a master of the operatic craft.
Born in Milan, Rizzi studied at the city’s conservatoire, and following his graduation was employed as a repetiteur at the legendary Teatro alla Scala. He launched his conducting career in 1982 with a production of Donizetti’s L’ajo nell’imbarazzo, and has now performed over a hundred operas, with a broad repertoire that is rich in Italian works in addition to the major titles of Mozart, Wagner, Strauss, Britten, Mussorgsky, Martinů and Janáček.
Since 2019 Rizzi is Music Director of Opera Rara, the UK-based company devoted to resurrecting and returning to the repertoire undiscovered and undervalued works from opera’s celebrated and neglected composers, and since 2015, he has been Conductor Laureate of the Welsh National Opera, following his tenure as Music Director (1992-2001 and 2004-8) during which he was widely credited with overseeing a dramatic increase in the company’s artistic standards and international profile. He also has held long- standing relationships with the Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and his career has seen him leading numerous productions at the most distinguished operatic addresses including the Opera National de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, the Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro, the Netherlands Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the New National Theatre Tokyo, Opernhaus Zürich, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie, Brussels.
Rizzi is also critically acclaimed as a symphonic conductor with distinguished orchestras around the world including Halle, the London Philharmonic, the Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Netherlands Philharmonic, Orchestra i Pomeriggi Musicali, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and the orchestra of the National Arts Centre, Ottawa.
In 2022/23 Rizzi opened the Metropolitan Opera New York’s season with a new production of Cherubini’s Medea alongside revivals of Tosca, La Bohème and Don Carlo. He also conducted a new staging of Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette at the Opera National de Paris and led revivals of Il Trovatore (Opera de Paris), Manon Lescaut (Bayerische Staatsoper), Aida (New National Theatre, Tokyo) and a symphonic concert with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. With Opera Rara he released recordings of Mercadante’s Il Proscritto and Leoncavallo’s Zingari.
The 2023/24 season will see the release of Donizetti’s L’Esule di Roma for Opera Rara, and the first of a projected complete edition of Donizetti’s songs, with Rizzi at the piano, accompanying a starry array of singers including Lawrence Brownlee, Michael Spyres and Ermonela Jaho. He conducts revivals of La Boheme and Un Ballo in Maschera at the Metropolitan Opera, I Vespri Siciliani at the Wiener Staatsoper, Otello at the Seoul Arts Centre, and a new production of Il Trittico for Welsh National Opera.
Carlo Rizzi’s extensive discography includes complete recordings of Gounod’s Faust, Janáček’s Katya Kabanova (in English) and Verdi’s Rigoletto and Un ballo in maschera, all with Welsh National Opera; a Deutsche Grammophon DVD and CD of Verdi’s La Traviata recorded live at the Salzburg Festival with Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon and the Vienna Philharmonic; numerous recital albums with renowned opera singers including Joseph Calleja, Juan Diego Florez, Edita Gruberova, Jennifer Larmore, Ernesto Palacio, Olga Borodina and Thomas Hampson, and most recently a pair of Gramophone Award-nominated discs for Opera Rara with Joyce El-Khoury and Michael Spyres. He has also made recordings of symphonic works by Bizet, de Falla, Ravel, Respighi and Schubert with orchestras including the London and Netherlands Philharmonics. 2024 will see the release of an album of Puccini’s complete symphonic works, including the world premiere recordings of Rizzi’s own orchestral sequences from Tosca and Madama Butterfly, with the orchestra of the Welsh National Opera.
In 2024 Rizzi was awarded the honour of ‘Grande Ufficiale’ (Grand Officer) of the ‘Ordine della Stella d’Italia’ (Order of the Star of Italy) for his commitment and contribution to promoting Italian music and culture internationally.
RECENT PRAISE
Mundo Clasico
Francisco Leonarte
Carlo Rizzi has often been dismissed as a “craftsman.” But that is precisely what is good about Carlo Rizzi! Nothing is invented, the tempi are not brutally accelerated or slowed down, nothing is pulled out of the sleeve that is not in the score. And how well he understands Verdi. He takes good care of the singers so that they can be heard at all times. And what a sense of Verdian rhythm! The work of a good craftsman for which we music lovers are grateful from the bottom of our hearts. And the singers, who feel completely comfortable with him. Equally, the players of the Paris Opera Orchestra were able to give all their velvet (even the brass, yes), showing that beautiful sound that characterizes it.
Crescendo Magazine
Bénédicte Palaux-Simonnet
The orchestra performed to its full extent. At its head was Carlo Rizzi, familiar from Pesaro, steeped in Italianità but also with the Grand Opéra style. With gestures as precise as they are elegant, tinged with lightness and sprezzatura, he achieved an ideal balance, and flawless dramatic tension.
Opera Wire
Francisco Salazar
Many conductors taking on late Verdi tend to lean heavily on brass sounds, often resulting in a banda sound for the entire orchestra. Not Rizzi. He knows how to balance the brightness of the brass and winds with an earthier texture of the strings to really create a more grounded sound. The results can be absolutely unreal, such as THE Chord during the Filippo and Rodrigo duet which was cataclysmic and unreal in its explosiveness and dramatic weight. He also got some of the more gentle textures beautifully, particularly at the start of Act two and during the final duet. The very final notes of the opera, with the violins in a frenzy over a menacing fanfare were all you could ask from any conductor.
The Spectator
Richard Bratby
Carlo Rizzi conducted, and his ability to generate tension within a single phrase even as he drives the music forward in taut, gleaming paragraphs, made the whole thing gripping.
Klassik Begeistert
Dr. Petra Spelzhaus
Conductor Carlo Rizzi , who hails from Milan and works in the world’s largest opera houses, plays a decisive role in this, skillfully directing the singers. From the dramatic beginning of the overture with the Scarpia motif to the dying away of the last notes in Act 3, the orchestra is in top form, displaying dynamism and variety, forming a powerful soundscape for the singing. Maestro Rizzi conducts passionately with flowing, expressive movements, evoking the feeling of loving and suffering with the protagonists in the orchestra pit. Bravo!
NEWS
Carlo Rizzi Releases Two New Recordings Showcasing Puccini And Donizetti
The coming weeks sees distinguished Italian Maestro Carlo Rizzi releasing two new studio recordings, showcasing his unrivalled expertise in the operatic repertoire and his deep relationships with the two institutions where he holds positions. On 09 February, Signum Records releases his album of Puccini symphonic suites as Conductor Laureate of
Congratulations to our 2024 ICMA Nominees!
IMG Artists would like to congratulate our 2024 International Classical Music Awards Nominees! The finalists will be announced by 11 December. The winners of the prestigious ICMA Awards will be revealed on 18 January 2024. The Award Ceremony and Gala concert will take place at the Palau de la Musica
Congratulations to Carlo Rizzi and Opera Rara for winning Opera Recording of the Year at the International Opera Awards
Conductor and Opera Rara Artistic Director Carlo Rizzi was victorious at the 2023 International Opera Awards. Rizzi and Opera Rara won Opera Recording of the Year for Mercadante: Il proscritto. Set in Edinburgh against the backdrop of Oliver Cromwell’s rule, Il proscritto saw a marked return to melody by Mercadante
Lawrence Brownlee and Carlo Rizzi Celebrate Donizetti’s 225th Anniversary at Wigmore Hall on 9 September
Tenor Lawrence Brownlee and Opera Rara’s Artistic Director, the conductor and pianist Carlo Rizzi, join for an exclusive London concert featuring songs by Gaetano Donizetti and his contemporaries as part of the 225th anniversary of the former’s birth. The recital, at Wigmore Hall on 9 September, is also the launch of an exploration
“Precison, Refinement, Stylistic Perfection”: Carlo Rizzi Leads Il Trovatore in Paris
Celebrated Italian Maestro Carlo Rizzi proved once again his credentials as a true holder of the Italian tradition, leading the production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore at the Opera National de Paris. Fresh from a tremendously successful triumvirate of productions across the autumn at New York’s Metropolitan Opera – Tosca, Don Carlos and the widely-acclaimed season opening
Carlo Rizzi, Christian Immler, Johan Dalene and Leif Ove Andsnes Are Awarded in Presto’s “Recordings of the Year 2022”
We would like to congratulate Carlo Rizzi, Christian Immler, Johan Dalene and Leif Ove Andsnes for being awarded in Presto’s Recordings of the Year 2022. Carlo Rizzi won ‘DVD/Blu-ray of the Year’ for conducting Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini. Presto wrote, “With terrific performances from Tetelman and Jakubiak (both charismatic
Carlo Rizzi, Christian Immler, Johan Dalene and Leif Ove Andsnes Are Awarded in Presto’s “Recordings of the Year 2022”
We would like to congratulate Carlo Rizzi, Christian Immler, Johan Dalene and Leif Ove Andsnes for being awarded in Presto’s Recordings of the Year 2022. Carlo Rizzi won ‘DVD/Blu-ray of the Year’ for conducting Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini. Presto wrote, “With terrific performances from Tetelman and Jakubiak (both charismatic singing actors who fare brilliantly under the camera’s close scrutiny) and
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