Damiano Michieletto
Damiano Michieletto has emerged on the international scene in a short time as one of the most interesting representatives of the younger generation of Italian directors. He studied opera and theatre production at the Paolo Grassi School of Dramatic Art in Milan and also graduated in modern literature at the university in Venice, his home town.
His critically acclaimed production of Jaromír Weinberger’s Švanda the Bagpiper at the Wexford Festival won the rish Times / ESB Theatre Award 2003. Among his early opera productions are La gazza ladra in a co-production for the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Bologna and Verona (Abbiati Award 2008), a Mozart/Da Ponte cycle at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, La scala di seta at the Rossini Opera Festival and at La Scala, Martinů’s The Greek Passion in Palermo, Così fan tutte at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. He also staged La bohème, Falstaff, La Cenerentola, Alcina at the Salzburg Festival, Guillaume Tell and Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci at Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Olivier Award 2016), Perocco’s Aquagranda at La Fenice (Abbiati Award 2017), Berlioz’s Damnation de Faust for the season opening of the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome (Abbiati Award 2018), Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the MusikTheater an der Wien, Jenůfa at the Staatsoper Berlin, Rigoletto at La Fenice (Abbiati Award 2022), Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the Semperoper Dresden, Il viaggio a Reims at Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam and Opera Philadelphia.
Among his recent engagements are his first La traviata at the Bregenz Festival and new productions of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Opernhaus Zurich, Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Falstaff at the Semperoper Dresden - conducted by Daniele Gatti – for the opening of the 2025/26 season, and Bernstein’s West Side Story at the Caracalla Festival, the summer program of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (of which he was the Artistic Director for the 2025 edition); the immersive installation Il sonno uccidesti inspired by the figure of Macbeth for the “Verdi Off” section of the Parma Verdi Festival, in collaboration with set designer Paolo Fantin; the world premiere of Il nome della rosa at Teatro alla Scala, based on the novel by Umberto Eco and composed by Francesco Filidei; Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery at the MusikTheater an der Wien; La fille du régiment at the Bayerische Staatsoper and at the Teatro di San Carlo; Handel’s Messiah and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at the Komische Oper Berlin; Battistelli’s Le baruffe at La Fenice (with libretto by the director himself); Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and at the Opéra du Capitole de Toulouse; the Italian premiere of Bernstein’s Mass at the Caracalla Baths in Rome; the world premiere of Animal Farm based on Orwell’s novel and composed by Alexander Raskatov at the De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam and at the Wiener Staatsoper; Les Contes d’Hoffmann in Sydney, Venice and London; Cherubini’s Médée and Strauss’s Salome at La Scala; Carmen at the Royal Opera House in London; Schreker’s Der Ferne Klang in Frankfurt; Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict at the Opéra de Lyon and at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa (Italian premiere of the work).
Other highlights feature Rigoletto at the Circus Maximus in Rome in 2020 – which led to a film project for the big screen produced by Indigo Film with the Rome Opera – and a film version of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (Genoma Films, 2021). In 2022, he also presented Archèus. Labirinto Mozart, a multidisciplinary immersive installation created for the Venice Biennale, celebrating the 1600th anniversary of the city. In 2025, his first feature film (produced by Warner Bros Italia and Indigo Film in collaboration with Moana Films) has been released in Italian cinemas: Primavera, freely adapted from Tiziano Scarpa’s novel Stabat Mater, and won four David di Donatello and three Nastri D’Argento. He was also among the Creative Directors signing the Opening Ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
Besides his busy career in opera, Damiano Michieletto is also active in drama theatre across major Italian venues including the Teatro Stabile del Veneto and the Piccolo Teatro of Milan. He staged works such as Goldoni’s Il Ventaglio (The Fan), Gogol’s The Inspector General at the Teatro Stabile del Veneto, a new production of Brecht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, and La domanda di matrimonio / L’orso by Čechov with the Teatro Stabile del Veneto at the Goldoni Theatre in Venice.
Next engagements include Otello at La Scala for the opening of the new season, Lohengrin at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, The Love for Three Oranges at Oper Frankfurt, and Don Quichotte again at La Scala.
