Carlo Rizzi

A conductor with deep expertise in Italian opera, Carlo Rizzi frequently champions obscure scores alongside the core repertory. He also directs non-Italian operas and a broad spectrum of symphonic repertoire.

Born in Milan on 19 July 1960, Rizzi trained at the city’s Conservatory before pursuing advanced studies with the Russian-born Vladimir Delman in Bologna and with Franco Ferrara at Siena’s Accademia Musicale Chigiana. His professional bow came in 1982 when he led a rare Donizetti comedy, L’ajo nell’Imbarazzo, at Milan’s Angelicum theater; soon afterward he captured first prize in the newly established Toscanini Conductors’ Competition in Parma. By the close of the decade he had begun appearing outside Italy, making his Buxton Festival debut in Britain in 1988, an engagement that quickly opened doors at Covent Garden and Opera North in Leeds. In 1992 he made his first recording, directing the London Symphony Orchestra in Verdi’s La Traviata for Teldec, a label for which he continued to record throughout the 1990s, with occasional releases on Apex and elsewhere. That same year he was appointed music director of Welsh National Opera, a post he relinquished in 2001 only to return for a second term from 2004 to 2007; while based in Cardiff he acquired fluency in Welsh. During these years he also undertook high-profile guest engagements, beginning with his Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in 2004 and continuing with appearances at La Scala. Among his Welsh National Opera recordings is a 2007 account of Janáček’s Katya Kabanova. Beyond staple Italian titles he has documented such rarities as Rossini’s Ciro in Babilonia and Piccinni’s La Pescatrice, and he has collaborated on disc with artists including Edita Gruberová, Jane Eaglen, and Juan Diego Flórez. In the orchestral sphere he led the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra through several Ravel-centered projects during the 2010s. Appointed music director of the Opera Rara label in 2019, Rizzi saw his contract renewed through 2026; for the imprint he conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Leoncavallo’s Zingari in 2022. By then his discography exceeded fifty recordings.