Francesco Lanzillotta

Francesco Lanzillotta is considered one of the most interesting conductors on the Italian music scene. Born in Rome, he graduated in conducting with Maestro Bruno Aprea and in composition with Maestro Luciano Pelosi with full marks and honours at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. He also studied piano and cello.

He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Varna Opera House in Bulgaria from 2010 to 2014, Principal Conductor of the Orchestra Filarmonica Toscanini from 2014 to 2017, Music Director of the Macerata Opera Festival from 2017 to 2021. In recent years he has conducted in the most important Italian theatres in Turin, Venice, Naples, Palermo, Macerata, Rome, Florence, Bologna, Pesaro, Verona, Milan, Parma, Trieste, Treviso, Ferrara, Cagliari, Benevento, Lecce, L'Aquila and others. Very active in Europe he made his debut at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, opened the 2019 season at the Semperoper in Dresden, conducted in Zurich, Valencia, Paris, Brussels, Munich, Lyon. In 2022, he made his debut in Vienna with I puritani at the Wiener Staatsoper. In the same year he is invited back to Frankfurt after conducting La traviata in 2018, to conduct a new production of Dallapiccola's Ulysses. In Beijing he conducted Le nozze di Figaro, in Budapest L'italiana in Algeri and in South Korea, in Toronto several symphonic programmes. In Montpellier he made his debut with Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini and La notte di un nevrastenico by Nino Rota. Constantly invited to the Erl Festival, he has conducted many symphonic concerts. He recently triumphed in the challenging Bastarda project at Le Monnaie/DeMunt in Brussels in the double role of composer and conductor.

Recent higlights include: Norma at Berlin Staatsoper and at Theater an Der Wien, La rondine and Norma at Teatro Regio in Turin, Adelaide di Borgogna and Torvaldo e Dorliska at Rossini Opera Festival, I lombardi alla prima crociata and Andrea Chénier at Teatro Regio in Parma, La sonnambula and L’elisir d’amore at Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, La traviata at the New National Theatre Tokyo, Guillaume Tell at Opéra de Lausanne and the diptych Gianni Schicchi/Mavra, Risurrezione and West Side Story at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

In the coming months he will conduct Nabucco at Berlin Staatsoper, Roberto Devereux at Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Antigone with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Macbeth at Teatro Regio in Parma, La traviata at Caracalla Festival in Rome, Trilogia Verdiana at Teatro Municipale in Piacenza, I masnadieri at Teatro Real in Madrid, I puritani at Teatro Regio in Torino and Otello in Liège.

Driven by a deep passion for 20th-century music, he has brought to life rare and compelling repertoire, including Rota’s Aladino e la lampada magica at Festival della Valle d’Itria and Malipiero’s La vita è sogno at Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

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