Nir Kabaretti - Music director of the Santa Barbara Symphony

Described by Zubin Mehta as a conductor "of immense musicality and warm personality", Nir Kabaretti has earned an impressive reputation across continents for his command of a vast symphonic, operatic and ballet repertoire. Nir Kabaretti collaborates with artists such as Itzhak Perlmann and Lang Lang. Some of his appearances as guest conductor have included the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires, Orquestre National du Theatre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano “La Verdi”, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra of Rishon Le Tzion, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester, La Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, La Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria and the Bochumer Symphoniker. In 2002, Kabaretti was appointed Principal Conductor of the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra in Israel and in 2003, its Music Director until 2008. His operatic experience includes productions at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Macbeth, Il Trovatore, Gianni Schicchi, Il Viaggio a Reims), Teatro Real in Madrid (La Cenerentola, Die Walküre), The Israeli Opera (Fidelio, Manon Lescaut), Opéra de Lausanne (Nino Rota’s Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze, Die Fledermaus) and The New National Theatre in Tokyo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia). M° Kabaretti conducted The Diary of Anne Frank, a guest production of the Vienna State Opera performed at both the Bregenz Festival and Expo 2000 in Hanover. In 2005 Nir Kabaretti led the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli on its first tour to Japan conducting Il Trovatore both in Kyoto and Tokyo. During 2004-05, Kabaretti made his debut at Teatro alla Scala di Milano with Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, and was invited again in 2007 for a ballet production of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (broadcasted by the Italian national television RAI). Nir Kabaretti lately conducted: Carmen at the Granada Theatre (California); a production of Lohengrin at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. He is a regular guest at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, where during the last years he conducted: a “Soirée Roland Petit” (music by Bizet), Offenbach’s Gaîté Parisienne, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcrakcer, Minkus’ Don Quixote and a “Soirée Maurice Béjart”. Other recent appearances include: Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence; Falstaff in Lausanne; Nabucco in Avenches; Fidelio with the Rochester Philarmonic in New York; concerts in Santa Barbara, Tel Aviv, Toulouse, New York, Tokyo, Lisbon, Sevilla and Bari.

Future plans include: Cinderella at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and a series of concerts with Israel Chamber Orchestra in Tel Aviv, with the South West Florida Symphony and with the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra in Santa Barbara.