Roberto Abbado (born 30 December 1954, Milan) is an Italian opera and symphonic music conductor. Currently he is Artistic Partner of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. In 2015 he has been appointed music director of Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain. From 2018 he's Music Director of the Festival Verdi in Parma. Previously he held the position of Chief Conductor of Münchner Rundfunkorchester (Munich Radio Orchestra).
Childhood and education
Born into a musical family, Mr. Abbado is a son of the pianist and composer Marcello Abbado, for more than twenty years Director of Conservatorio di Musica "Giuseppe Verdi" in Milan. His grandfather was the violinist and teacher Michelangelo Abbado and his uncle the conductor Claudio Abbado. In his teens, Roberto Abbado studied at Conservatorio "G. Rossini" in Pesaro and then piano with Paolo Bordoni and composition with Bruno Bettinelli at Milan Conservatory. He studied conducting with Mario Gusella in Milan and Franco Ferrara at Teatro La Fenice in Venice and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. He also attended the last summer course of Hans Swarowsky in Vienna in 1975.
Career
In 1975, Piero Farulli funded the "Vincenzo Galilei" Orchestra and Chorus at Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa to perform Bach Cantatas. Mario Gusella recommended Mr. Abbado to Piero Farulli in order to conduct the orchestra in a series of concerts.
In 1977, the musicians of Accademia di Santa Cecilia Symphony Orchestra asked Mr. Abbado to conduct a concert in Rieti, while he was still studying at Accademia, for a fellow student a privilege never to be. In the same year he won Second Prize at Malko Competition for young conductors in Copenhagen, promoted by Danish Radio and Television.
In 1978, he conducted concerts with leading Italian and Scandinavian orchestras such as Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai di Milano, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. His first appearance as opera conductor, aged 23, was in Macerata, Arena Sferisterio in 1978, in a new production of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, featuring Renato Bruson, Cesare Siepi and Ilva Ligabue. He conducted the season opening night at Teatro La Fenice in December 1979 with a new production of Rossini's Il Turco in Italia.
In 1980, he conducted Verdi's Aida at Teatro Massimo in Palermo: one of the performance was attended by the Intendant of Wiener Staatsoper Seefelner, who immediately engaged Mr. Abbado.
In 1981, he conducted the world première of Flavio Testi's Il sosia at Piccola Scala in Milan. In the same year he conducted a new production of Rossini's La Cenerentola at Wiener Staatsoper, staged by Gian Carlo Menotti and featuring Agnes Baltsa, Francisco Araiza, Enzo Dara, and Giuseppe Taddei.
In 1982, he conducted Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at Opernhaus in Zurich with Edita Gruberova and Araiza. In summer he conducted at Edinburgh Festival Rossini's La pietra del paragone staged by Eduardo De Filippo with Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala. In November he conducted Verdi's Don Carlo at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona with a stunning cast including Montserrat Caballé, Elena Obraztsova, José Carreras, Leo Nucci and Martti Talvela.
He made his debut at Teatro alla Scala in 1984 conducting Donizetti's Don Pasquale, in a production featuring Sesto Bruscantini in the title role and Lucia Aliberti. In the same house he also conducted the world première of Testi's Riccardo III in 1987, Ponchielli's La Gioconda in 1997, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in 2006, the world première of Fabio Vacchi's Teneke in 2007 and Rossini's La donna del lago with Joyce DiDonato, Daniela Barcellona and Juan Diego Flórez in 2011.
In 1985, he made his Paris debut with Orchestre National de France and Yo Yo Ma as soloist. Mr. Abbado has conducted many leading orchestras in Europe, including Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Orchestre de Paris, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Dresden Staatskapelle, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Symphony Orchestra (Hamburg), Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
In 1987, he was appointed music director of the Municipal Theatre of Santiago in Chile, a position held till 1989.