On the occasion of the presentation of the 2021-2022 season of the Opera by its general director Bertrand Rossi, the new music director was introduced. Daniele Callegari will take the place of György Rath, who served for the past three years. The new “baton” will have at his side the young and talented Niçois Lionnel Bringuer, who will become more involved in the activities of the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra, which aspires to great ambitions for its future.
Daniele Callegari, 61, was born in Milan, where he studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory. He was a member of the Orchestra of La Scala in Milan for over ten years before becoming a conductor and quickly embarking on an international career.
From 1998 to 2001, he served as principal conductor at the Wexford Festival and from 2002 to 2008 at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders. He leads a career both in the symphonic and lyrical repertoire. He conducted the world premieres of Alice in Palermo by Gianpaolo Testoni and Oedipus on the Road by Pierre Bartholomée in Brussels. He is noted for his interpretations of the Italian repertoire and Verdi in particular.
The notable works he has conducted in his career include La Gioconda and Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Turandot at La Scala in Milan, Il Trovatore at the Paris National Opera, Jerusalem and Otello at the Verdi Festival in Parma, Rigoletto and L’elisir d’amore in Barcelona and Monte-Carlo, as well as at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.
Recently, he conducted L’elisir d’amore and Norma in Munich, La Bohème at the Semperoper Dresden, L’elisir d’amore in Oslo, and made his debut at the San Francisco Opera with Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. At the Orchestre National du Rhin, he conducted Les Huguenots, Tosca, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, Don Carlo, Cavalleria Rusticana, and Pagliacci.
