Stefano Montanari
Conductor

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.

Future plans include: La fille du régiment and Alcina at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Le Nozze di Figaro with the Bayerische Staatsorchester in Shanghai and at the Teatro Real in Madrid; 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, La Ceccina by Piccinni, and symphonic concerts at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari; and a symphonic concert with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva.

June 2025