Born in Puglia in 1993, Danila graduated in conducting with top marks
and honours under the guidance of Marcello Bufalini, at the Conservatorio
“A. Casella” in L'Aquila, furthering her studies with Dario Lucantoni and
Donato Renzetti.
She began her conducting studies at the Civica Scuola di Musica “Claudio
Abbado” in Milan, where she obtained her first level diploma, later
winning a scholarship for an internship with the Mannheimer
Philharmoniker. She was also selected for Sian Edwards' master classes at
St. Andrew's University (Scotland) and was awarded a second internship as
orchestral trainer at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.
She has conducted orchestras such as: Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese,
Orchestra Metropolitana della Città di Bari (in a concert with harpist
Claudia Lamanna, winner of the International Harp Contest 2022) and
LaToscanini di Parma for the show 'L' Arcipelago dei suoni', at the Arena
Shakespeare in Parma.
In 2019, as artistic and musical director of the project "Il Guercio di
Puglia - tra parole e musica" (The Guercio of Puglia - between words and
music), winner of a regional call for tenders, she realized and promoted
the first opera made entirely with Apulian artists under 35 years of age,
thus conducting the world premiere of the opera composed by Nicola
Scardicchio for the occasion. Also in Puglia, she conducted pianist
Pasquale Iannone in concert for the 5th PianoLab Piano Festival in Martina
Franca.
Since 2021, she has worked as Fabio Luisi's assistant for the Festival
della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca, where she made her debut conducting
a new production of Antonio Salieri's La Scuola de' gelosi, thus being the
first woman to conduct an opera title in the Festival's history. She also
worked as assistant to Maurizio Benini for Anna Bolena at the Palau de les
Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, where she will also return for Maria
Stuarda. Instead, with Michele Spotti she worked with the Benevento
Philharmonic Orchestra, the Festival della Valle d'Itria and at the Teatro
Massimo in Palermo for Don Pasquale.
Among her recent engagements: Pergolesi's La serva padrona,
Theodorakis' Zorba il Greco, and a ballet with music by
Rachmaninov at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo; her debut at the
Staatstheater Stuttgart in L'Elisir d’amore; her debut at the
Wexford Festival Opera in a new production of Donizetti’s Le
convenienze e inconvenienze teatrali; Carpi's Pinocchio with
the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano; a symphonic concert in the season of
the Orchestra Filarmonica di Benevento (Haydn, Saint-Saëns, Bartók);
symphonic concerts with the Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino,
Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale
Fiorentino, ORT-Orchestra della Toscana, Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e
Trento, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, and
the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana at the Palau de les Arts Reina
Sofia in Valencia.
Among her engagements for the 2025-26 season: her debut at Theater Basel
in a new production of Verdi’s Macbeth, and symphonic concerts
with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini and the Orchestra dei Conservatori
di Puglia.
She has to his credit a collaboration with Rassegna Musicale Curci:
Periodico di Cultura e Attualità Musicali, for which he has published his
research on the operatic genre of Literaturoper, with the titles "Debussy
e la nascita della Literaturoper" and "Chi è Lulu? From F. Wedeking to A.
Berg".
August 2025