Nir Kabaretti has established in recent years an outstanding international reputation of both symphonic and operatic repertoire. In 2002, Kabaretti was appointed Principal Conductor of the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra in Israel and in 2003, its Music Director until 2008. In 2006 he was chosen to be the music director of the Santa Barbara Symphony in California and in 2014 he has been appointed Music Director of the South West Florida Symphony.
Among his recognitions, Kabaretti was awarded the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Grant for Young Conductors, won the 1993 Forum Junger Künstler Conducting Competition in Vienna and in 1994 was a finalist in the International Competition for Conductors in Douai, France.
Upon graduation from the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, he began working as Coach and Chorus Master at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival, followed by positions as assistant to the Music Director at the Teatro Real in Madrid and conductor and personal assistant to Zubin Mehta at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Italy.
Nir Kabaretti conducted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, L' Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires, Orquestre National du Theatre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano “La Verdi”, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra of Rishon Le Tzion, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester, La Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, La Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria and the Bochumer Symphoniker.
His operatic experience includes productions at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Macbeth, Il Trovatore, Gianni Schicchi, Il Viaggio a Reims), Teatro Real in Madrid (La Cenerentola, Die Walküre), The Israeli Opera ( Fidelio, Manon Lescaut ), Opéra de Lausanne (Nino Rota's Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze, Die Fledermaus) and The New National Theatre in Tokyo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia ). He conducted The Diary of Anne Frank, a guest production of the Vienna State Opera performed at both the Bregenz Festival and Expo 2000 in Hanover. In 2005 maestro Kabaretti led Teatro San Carlo di Napoli on its first tour to Japan conducting Il Trovatore both in Kyoto and Tokyo. During 2004-05, Kabaretti made his début at Teatro alla Scala di Milano with Tchaikowsky´s The Nutcracker, and was invited again in 2007 for a ballet production of Mendelssohn's Midsummer night's Dream (broadcasted by Italian television RAI).
Some of Kabaretti's engagements for the past seasons include Carmen at the Granada Theatre (California), a production of Lohengrin at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Romeo and Juliet, a Gala for Roland Petit, The Nutcracker, Cinderella and Don Quixote at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and Swan Lake and The Nutcracker at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence; Falstaff in Lausanne, Nabucco and Il barbiere di Siviglia in Avenches, Fidelio in New York and the
closing concert of the Mittelfest Festival in Cividale.
Recently Mr Kabaretti conducted a series of concerts in Fort Meyers and in Liege with the Orchestre Philarmonique and on tour in Belgium, then in Santa Barbara, Michigan, Bloomington, in Parma with the Toscanini Orchestra and in Israel with the Israel Sinfonietta; Die Fledermaus in Bari; Madama Butterfly at the Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago; L’Elisir d’amore at the Opera in Lausanne; Tosca in Jesi; Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet in Stockholm
Plans include: a series of concerts with the Santa Barbara Symphony, Israel Sinfonietta and the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo and The Nutcracker in Rome.
Nir Kabaretti speaks fluently Hebrew, English, Italian, German and Spanish.
May 2023