Principal Guest Conductor at the Wexford Festival Opera, Francesco
Cilluffo was born in Turin, where he graduated in Conducting and
Composition from the “G. Verdi” Conservatoire, also graduating in History
of Music from the University of Turin (DAMS). He furthered his studies in
London, where he was awarded a Master at the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama and a PhD in composition at King’s College, London. He specialized
at the Accademia Chiagiana (Siena), eventually assisting Michael Tilson
Thomas, John Eliot Gardiner, Asher Fisch, John Mauceri and Lothar
Zagrosek.
Among his most notable engagements: Cilea’s L’Arlesiana at the
Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi (recorded in CD and DVD for Dynamic);
Wolf-Ferrari’s Il Campiello for the opening of the season at the
Teatro del Maggio in Florence and at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste; the
world premieres of Le Braci (Embers) and Miseria e Nobiltà
by Marco Tutino, at the Teatro del Maggio in Florence, at the Festival
della Valle d’Itria and at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, where he also
conducted Il Barbiere di Siviglia; L’Elisir d’amore at the
Teatro Comunale in Modena and at the Teatro Regio in Parma; Rossini’s La
Cambiale di matrimonio and a Verdi Gala at the Teatro Regio in
Parma; La Traviata at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Liège;
Zemlinsky’s Der König Kandaules at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo;
new productions of Nabucco and Falstaff at the Kiel Opera;
Gound’s Roméo et Juliette, Rigoletto, L’Elisir d’amore
and Madama Butterfly at the New Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv; Tancredi,
Trovatore, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Britten, La
voix humaine, Cavalleria rusticana and Aida for
OperaLombardia; Tosca at the Tulsa Opera (USA); Mascagni’s Isabeau,
Puccini’s Le Villi and Delius’ Margot la Rouge at Opera
Holland Park (London); Verdi’s Requiem, Macbeth, Falstaff
and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at the Grange Festival with the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; Le Nozze di Figaro and Brahms’ Ein
deutsches Requiem at the Volksoper in Vienna; Madama Butterfly
at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago; Cilea’s Gloria for the
opening of the 2023 season at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari.
Also active in the symphonic field, he has conducted: Verdi’s Requiem
with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem
with the Volksoper Orchestra in Vienna; Mozart’s Requiem (ed.
Levin), Duruflé’s Requiem and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14
with the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra ; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde
at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca; Cherubini’s Requiem
in c minor with the Accademia Stefano Tempia in Turin; concerts
with orchestras such as: Bremer Philharmoniker, RTÉ Concert Orchestra,
Dublin; Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago, Chile; Jerusalem Symphony
Orchestra; LaToscanini in Parma (with the Italian premiere of Absolute
Jest by John Adams), Orchestra of the Arena di Verona, Orchestra of
the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, ORT-Orchestra della Toscana, I Pomeriggi
Musicali Orchestra in Milan.
At the Wexford Festival Opera, he conducted: Mascagni’s Guglielmo
Ratcliff, Alfano’s Risurrezione, Leoni’s L’Oracolo,
Giordano’s Mala vita, Catalani’s Edmea, Halévy’s La
Tempesta, Tutino’s La Ciociara (Two Women) as well as
several gala concerts.
Future engagements include: Boito’s Nerone for the opening of
the 2024 season of the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari; Tosca at the
Grange Festival with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and at the Teatro
Petruzzelli in Bari; Pagliacci at Opera Holland Park, London;
Mascagni’s Le maschere at the Wexford Festival Opera; symphonic
concerts with LaToscanini Orchestra in Parma and Piacenza.
February 2024