Saimir Pirgu – Duke of Mantua

After his great successes singing in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito in Paris, La Traviata in Munich, Verdi’s Requiem at the Enescu Festival under the baton of  Antonio Pappano, in Vienna and Munich with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Mariss Jansons conducting, Berlioz’ Messe Solennelle in Vienna under Riccardo Muti, Saimir Pirgu returns to one of his most beloved roles: Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto.

Plans include: La Bohème in Washington; La Traviata and King Roger in London (Royal Opera House); Macbeth at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Lucia di Lammermoor in Toulouse; La Traviata and L’Elisir d’Amore in Vienna, Berlin; Un Ballo in Maschera in Tel Aviv; Rigoletto in Zurich, Vienna and Toulouse; Falstaff in Chicago, Muti conducting.

On the concert side Mr. Pirgu continues his collaboration with Riccardo Muti, who will conduct him in Mozart’ s Requiem in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Maurizio Benini - conductor*

After his debut at Teatro Comunale in Bologna, he started a career at the highest levels with many commitments in Bel Canto and Verdi's repertoire in such theaters as the Paris Opera, the Staatsoper in Vienna, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Metropolitan Opera, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, the La Fenice in Venice and in festivals such as the Glyndebourne Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy. Many are his recordings with the Opera Rara label and with Deutsche Grammophon. The Italian Maestro was the Principal Conductor at the Filarmonici del Teatro Comunale di Bologna between 1984 and 1991, at the Wexford Festival from 1995 to 1997, at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile until 2006; more recently he was principal guest conductor at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

M° Benini has recently conducted the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Rossini's Le Comte Ory, followed by Il Barbiere di Siviglia and L'Elisir d'Amore; Stiffelio at the Opéra in Monte Carlo; Tosca at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London; Lucia di Lammermoor at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse; L’Elisir d’Amore at the Metropolitan in New York; Il Turco in Italia in Munich.

Plans include: productions at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (Maria Stuarda), at the Opéra de Montecarlo (Adriana Lecouvreur, La Wally); at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse (Lucia di Lammermoor); at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest (Faust); at the Dutch National Opera (Il Trovartore). In the following seasons he will return to London conducting  Nabucco and in New York involved in important productions.

Maurizio Benini was awarded by the most important critics of Spanish musical magazines and newspapers as best conductor of the season (2012) thanks his interpretation of Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur staged at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.