Saimir Pirgu - Don Ottavio*

After his recent successes at the Royal Opera House in London singing King Roger, in Vienna as Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto and in Berlin as Alfredo in La Traviata, Saimir Pirgu returns to the Arena in Verona as Don Ottavio.

Plans include: L’Elisir d’Amore, Don Giovanni and a new production of I Capuleti e i Montecchi (under Marco Armiliato) at the Wiener Staatsoper; Un Ballo in Maschera with the Israel Philharmonic in Tel Aviv under Zubin Mehta; Mozart’s Requiem at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Marc Albrecht conducting; Rigoletto in Toulouse, Daniel Oren conducting; La Traviata at the Royal Opera House in London and at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin; Falstaff in Chicago with Riccardo Muti; a new production of Madama Butterfly in Zurich; La Bohème and Macbeth at the Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Lucia di Lammermoor and La Clemenza di Tito in Toulouse; a revival of King Roger in Sydney. On the concert side, Mr. Pirgu will also sing Verdi’s Requiem in Paris (under Gianandrea Noseda) and Luxembourg, Berlioz’ Requiem in Vienna (under Tugan Sokhiev), and a gala concert at the Chorégies Orange.

Stefano Montanari - conductor

For the first time on the podium of the Arena di Verona, Stefano Montanari is now much in demand as a conductor with both modern and period orchestras, being also active as one of the best baroque violin virtuosos of his generation. M° Montanari recently made his theatre debut at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow conducting Così Fan Tutte. In Venice, where he regularly appears both in opera and concert, he recently conducted Cavalli’s Eritrea (first performance in modern times), L’Inganno Felice and Don Giovanni. He also made his debut with the Rome Opera conducting Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Terme di Caracalla, an opera he also conducted at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona. Always active as a virtuoso violinist, Stefano Montanari has just played the whole series of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas at the Opéra de Lyon. After a successful concert with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, he has been reinvited to conduct Dido & Aeneas at the Opera in Florence, Bach’s B minor mass and other symphonic concerts; he also recently returned to I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan conducting a symphonic concert and and the jazz project La Montagna Incantata by and with Gianluigi Trovesi. Stefano Montanari obtained a huge success conducting Il Viaggio a Reims (new production by Damiano Michieletto) in Amsterdam. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his recording of Purcell’s O Solitude with Andreas Scholl for Decca.

Future plans:  Agrippina in Antwerp; Le Nozze di Figaro for OperaLombardia (Como, Cremona, Brescia, Pavia, Bergamo); Caldara’s Dafne, L’Elisir d’Amore and symphonic concerts at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice; La Clemenza di Tito and Così fan Tutte at the Bolshoi in Moscow; concerts in Florence with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in Turin with the Filarmonica del Teatro Regio di Torino and at the Handel Festival in Karlsruhe. M° Montanari will play all the sonatas and partitas for solo violin by Bach at the Stresa Festival. He will also play in several concerts with his own ensemble L’Estravagante in Italy and Europe, with the Arion Baroque Orchestra in Montréal and will return to the Opéra de Lyon involved in several new projects, among which Die Entführung aus dem Serail and a baroque concert.