Stefano Montanari is the Principal Conductor of the Orchestra del Teatro
Petruzzelli in Bari.
Hailed for his unique musicality and unmatched flair, he graduated in
violin and piano with the highest honors and obtained a diploma in chamber
music with Pier Narciso Masi from the Accademia Musicale in Firenze and
with Carlo Chiarappa from the Conservatory of Lugano.
Formerly concert master of Accademia Bizantina, with which with which he
took part in numerous productions playing with some of the greatest
Baroque conductors, he continues to combine his activity as a conductor
with that of soloist.
Stefano Montanari is a regular guest in major theaters and musical
institutions such as Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Bayerische
Staatsoper in Munich, Opéra de Lyon (also with “I Bollenti Spiriti”, the
period-instrument orchestra of the house), De Nationale Opera in
Amsterdam, Bolshoi Theater and Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow,
Staatsoper Stuttgart, Edinburgh Festival, Warsaw Philharmonic, Teatro La
Fenice in Venice, Opera di Roma, Teatro San Carlo in Naples; Festival
Donizetti in Bergamo, Arena di Verona, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro
Regio in Turin, Ravenna Festival, LaVerdi Orchestra and I Pomeriggi
Musicali in Milan.
Among his recent engagements are: Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos in
Lyon; Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Warsaw Philharmonic; Rinaldo
with Il Pomo d’Oro on a European tour; Messiah in Lyon; Agrippina
in Munich; Orphée et Euridyce in Zurich; Iphigénie en Tauride
and Platée in Stuttgart; Bononcini’s Astarto in Innsbruck;
Don Giovanni in Lyon and Moscow; Così fan tutte at the
Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London and in Munich; Die
Entführung aus dem Serail in Munich and Vienna; Le Nozze di
Figaro in Munich; Beethoven's Fidelio and Mahler’s Symphony
No. 9 with the Orchestra of the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari; L’Elisir
d’amore at the Teatro Regio in Turin and in Vienna; Anna Bolena,
Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux in Geneva; La fille
du régiment in Munich; La Cenerentola in Edinburgh, Rome and
Vienna; Mosè in Egitto at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples; Il
Barbiere di Siviglia in Rome, Vienna and Bari; Rigoletto at
the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London; Il Corsaro in Bari;
Guillaume Tell in Liège; Otello in Stuttgart; Hasse’s Enea
in Caonia in Herne (recorded for CPO); Pagliacci and
Berlioz’s Lélio at the Teatro Regio in Turin; Le Martyre de
Saint Sébastien in Bari; Les Brigands at the Opéra de Paris;
and Roméo et Juliette in Berlin.
A multi-faceted musician, he took part in the creation of Damiano
Michieletto’s opera-film Gianni Schicchi as music director and
conductor and he often collaborates with jazz musician Gianluigi Trovesi.
Director of the project “Jugendspodium / Incontri musicali
Dresden-Venice”, he teaches at the Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado
and is the author of the “Baroque Violin Method” published by Carisch. His
Decca album “O Solitude” (with Andreas Scholl) has been nominated for the
Grammy Awards.
Among the engagements for the 2025-26 season are: Le Nozze di Figaro
(concert version) and Alcina at the Bayerische
Staatsoper; Otello at the Stuttgart Opera; Ariodante at
the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London; Maria Stuarda at
the Hamburg Opera; Giulio Cesare at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Giulio
Cesare, Piccinni's La Cecchina, and symphonic concerts at
the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari; and a symphonic concert with the Orchestre
de la Suisse Romande in Geneva.
August 2025