Carlo Rizzi has worked extensively in the domain of symphonic music and opera, conducting not only the great repertoire classics but also rare works by Bellini, Cimarosa, and Donizetti. Since his debut in 1982 with Donizetti’s L’ajo nell’imbarazzo, he has conducted over a hundred operatic works, focusing not only on Italian opera but also on works by Strauss, Wagner, Britten, and Janáček.

He was Music Director of the Welsh National Opera from 1992 to 2001 and again from 2004 to 2008. Since 2015, he has held the title of conductor emeritus. Since September 2019, he has been the Music Director of Opera Rara, the British label dedicated to reviving forgotten or little-known operatic works, with which he has recorded Leoncavallo’s Zingari and Donizetti’s L’Esule di Roma.

He is frequently invited to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera, the Teatro Real in Madrid, and more. He has conducted renowned orchestras such as the Hallé Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.

Recently, he has conducted Les Vêpres siciliennes, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Madama Butterfly at the Welsh National Opera; Tosca, La Bohème, Médée, Don Carlos, and Un ballo in maschera at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; I due Foscari at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Il Proscritto at London’s Barbican Centre; La Gazetta at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro; La Fille du Far-West and Les Vêpres siciliennes at the Vienna Staatsoper; Il Tabarro at the Welsh National Opera; and Otello at the Royal Opera House in London.

During the 2024-2025 season, he will conduct, among others, La fiamma at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Rigoletto and Turandot at the Vienna Staatsoper, La Bohème at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, and Il Trovatore at the Royal Opera House in London.

At the Paris Opera: Norma, 1996; Simon Boccanegra, 1997; Rigoletto, 1998; La Cenerentola, 2002; Don Carlo, 2010; La Fille du Far-West, 2014; Cavalleria rusticana / Sancta Susanna, 2016; Cendrillon, 2022; Il Trovatore, 2023; Roméo et Juliette, 2023.

Carlo RizziConductor