Now considered as one of the most eclectic interpreters of recent years, Michele Gamba had his debut at Covent Garden Linbury Theatre conducting Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne and a staged version of Berio's Folk Songs. He then appeared at the Berlin State Opera for a new production of Le nozze di Figaro directed by Jürgen Flimm, gaining great success from the audience and critics alike.

After his assistantships with Antonio Pappano and Daniel Barenboim, he was invited to conduct for several important theaters and orchestras in Europe.

After his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 2016, he developed a strong collaboration with the famous opera house and orchestra, which led him to conduct nine productions in the past few years: the world premiere of Madina by Fabio Vacchi; the Opening Gala “A riveder le stelle” in 2020; L'elisir d'amore; Le nozze di Figaro; an all-Schumann recital and Schubert’s Winterreise with baritone Markus Werba; the highly acclaimed new production of Rigoletto staged by renowned Italian director Mario Martone; Médée; Puccini’s Turandot in the production which marked the composer’s centenary celebrations; and Tosca.

He was invited to Dresden Semperoper to conduct Die Zauberflöte for the production which marked the reopening of the theatre after the pandemic. Other recent engagements have seen him regularly on the podium of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (for several symphonic concerts and a new production of Linda di Chamounix directed by Cesare Lievi), Hamburg State Opera (Le nozze di Figaro), Stuttgart (La bohème and La sonnambula), Strasbourg Opera (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Toulouse Capitole (Macbeth), Tel Aviv Opera (Idomeneo and a new production of Le nozze di Figaro directed by David Pountney). At Rome Opera and Berlin Deutsche Oper he has conducted Rigoletto, at Turin Regio Aida.

He recently opened the Washington National Opera with Il trovatore, gaining important recognition from the international critics, and had his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with a concert and L’elisir d’amore, which was rated by the New York Times as “best performance of the year 2023”.

Among the engagements of the 2025-26 season are: Timon Etùdes at the Teatro Regio di Parma, a suite that anticipates Timon of Athens that will premiere at Teatro alla Scala in 2027; the New Year’s concert at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl; Tosca at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Turandot at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari; and La Traviata at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

Particularly active in the symphonic repertoire and with a deep interest in new music, Michele has often conducted orchestras and ensembles like Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Duisburger Philharmoniker, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Divertimento Ensemble, Slovenian Philharmonic. He opened the 2019 edition of Milano Musica Festival and closed the 2021 series, conducting a broad variety of new commissions by composers like Francesconi, Saunders, Vacchi, Reich, Adès, Poppe, offering programmes inspired by cultural curiosity and refinement, pairing great authors from nowadays to classics of the 20th century avant-garde, like Boulez, Zimmermann and Xenakis.

Performing at the piano remains a true necessity for him - he keeps collaborating with many chamber music partners at Munich Gasteig, London Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie. Out now is the brand new CD Correspondences with cellist Martina Rudić, which offers fascinating parallels between Bach, Berio and Boulez.

In recent years, he has been awarded the Premio Puccini on the occasion of the inaugural concert of the centenary and the Premio ForlìMusica for special services to music.

Michele Gamba was born in Milan where he completed his musical studies at Conservatorio "G. Verdi" and read Philosophy at Milan State University, with a dissertation on Hannah Arendt - The Human Condition. He subsequently attended piano masterclasses with Maria Tipo at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, studied chamber music at the Royal Academy in London and orchestral conducting at Accademia Chigiana di Siena and Vienna Musikhochschule.

September 2025