Sebastiano Rolli studied Chamber Music and Composition at the
Conservatories of Parma and Milan, and Musical Dramaturgy with Marcello
Conati. He began his conducting career at a very young age and quickly
distinguished himself as one of the most interesting interpreters of his
generation.
He collaborates with orchestras such as: the Orchestra of the Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino, the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the
Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Orchestra of Fondazione Arena
di Verona, the Orchestra of Teatro Bellini in Catania, the Orchestra of
Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the Orchestra of Fondazione Arturo Toscanini,
the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bruno Bartoletti Symphony
Orchestra, the Orchestra of Padua and Veneto, the J. Haydn Orchestra of
Bolzano, the Orchestra of the University of Milan, the G. Rossini
Orchestra of Pesaro, the Regional Orchestra of the Marche, the Moravian
National Orchestra, the National Radio Orchestra of Bratislava, the
National Orchestra of Peru, the National Radio Orchestra of Dublin, the
Orchestra of the Slovak National Theatre, the National Orchestra of
Tenerife, the Albanian National Orchestra, the Orchestra of the National
Theatre of Athens, the Alhambra Festival Orchestra, the National Orchestra
of Mexico, the Lorraine Orchestra, the Tel Aviv Opera Orchestra, the
Orchestre de Chambre de Fribourg, and the Orchestra of the Magdeburg
Theatre.
In recent seasons, he has conducted: Macbeth at the Slovak
National Opera in Bratislava; Maria Stuarda at the Teatro Sociale
di Rovigo, Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo, and Teatro Filarmonico di Verona;
Il Trovatore, Maria di Rudenz, and Torquato Tasso
also in Bergamo; Falstaff at Teatro Verdi in Busseto for the Verdi
Festival; I Puritani at the Slovak National Opera in Bratislava; Gianni
Schicchi and Suor Angelica in Tirana; Anna Bolena in
Tenerife; Die Lustige Witwe at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari; La
Cenerentola and Peter and the Wolf at the Teatro Filarmonico
di Verona; Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro Regio di Parma and in
Savona; and La Sonnambula in Catania.
More recently, he has conducted: Donizetti’s Rosmonda d’Inghilterra
in Bergamo and Florence; Bellini’s La straniera in Catania; L’Italiana
in Algeri with Opera di Firenze in Oman; Norma in Tenerife;
La Traviata and La Sonnambula in Florence, Parma, Busseto,
and Bolzano; Roberto Devereux and Un ballo in maschera in
Parma; Nabucco for the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv; Il Trovatore
for the Rete Lirica delle Marche, in Tirana and Fidenza for the Verdi
Festival; Pagliacci in Sassari; Il Barbiere di Siviglia
and Don Pasquale in Fribourg; Il Maestro di Cappella on
tour in Italy with the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra; Donizetti’s Il
giovedì grasso in Ancona; Macbeth at the Opéra de Dijon; I
Lombardi alla prima crociata and I Due Foscari at Teatro La
Fenice in Venice; Rigoletto in Treviso and Rovigo; Il Barbiere
di Siviglia in Nancy; L’Elisir d’amore in Magdeburg; Don
Carlo in Sofia; I Capuleti e i Montecchi in Brescia,
Magdeburg, Como, Reggio Emilia, Cremona, and Pavia; and Attila in
Venice.
In the symphonic repertoire, he has conducted Fauré’s Requiem and
Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari; a recital
at the Concert Hall in Dublin and a tour in Mexico and Peru with Juan
Diego Flórez; Verdi’s Requiem in Medesano with Teatro Regio di
Parma; concerts with the Orchestra of the Arena di Verona and at the
Olympia Theatre in Athens; and with the Orchestra of the University of
Milan, where he is principal conductor.
Upcoming engagements for the 2025-26 season include: L’Elisir
d’amore in Osaka and Kyoto.
He has recorded world premiere modern performances of Donizetti and
Bellini works for Dynamic and Bongiovanni. He curated the world premieres
of critical editions of operas by Verdi, Donizetti, and Bellini, regularly
collaborating with the Verdi Festival in Parma, the Donizetti Festival in
Bergamo, and the Bellini Festival in Catania. He has conducted operatic
and symphonic productions in some of the world’s most prestigious
theatres.
Alongside his work as a conductor, he is also active in musicological
research related to performance practice. He contributes to the culture
pages of major newspapers and carries out an intense activity as a
lecturer and educator.
Among his publications are critical studies including: "Giuseppe Verdi. I
maestri del melodramma", "Giuseppe Di Stefano. I suoi personaggi", and
"Cleofonte Campanini, Liebeslied".
August 2025