Maurizio Benini

Maurizio Benini is a regular guest of many of the world’s most prestigious opera houses: the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Opéra de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, the Royal Opera House-Covent Garden in London, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real in Madrid, Opéra de Montecarlo, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and Teatro La Fenice in Venice, just to name only a few. He frequently participates in prominent international festivals such as the Glyndebourne Festival and the Festival of Edinburgh. He was principal guest conductor at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

After studying Composition and Orchestral Conducting, Maestro Benini made his conducting debut at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna with Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino. His debut at the Teatro alla Scala was in 1992 with La Donna del Lago, where he has since led Don Carlo, I Pagliacci, Don Pasquale, Rigoletto and La Sonnambula. At the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, he conducted performances of La Scala di Seta, L’Occasione fa il Ladro and Le Siège de Corinthe; Attila, Luisa Miller, Faust and La Traviata at Covent Garden; Rossini’s Zelmira at the Edinburgh Festival; and Don Carlo in Barcelona.

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 and Principal Guest Conductor at the Teatro san Carlo in Naples (2011). Maestro Benini had 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. Maurizio Benini was awarded by the most important critics of Spanish musical magazines and newspapers as best conductor of the season (2012) thanks to his interpretation of Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur staged at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. More recently he conducted Il Turco in Italia in Munich, Faust and Rigoletto in London, Maria Stuarda in Barcelona, L’Elisir d’amore at the Metropolitan Opera, a new production of Il Trovatore in Amsterdam, Leoncavallo’s Zazà corcert and recording for Opera Rara in London, La Wally in Monte Carlo.