“From the intense, expansive way he shaped the sorrowful opening of the opera, it was clear that conductor Giovanni Reggioli would be a star of the production. His unflaggingly elegant phrasing and ear for subtle details paid off handsomely all night, revealing the soulful beauty in the score.” (Opera News)
Elegant phrasing, eloquent, intense, disciplined, incandescent are but a few of the words used to describe the conducting of young Italian Giovanni Reggioli.
Giovanni Reggioli has quickly established an impressive international career having conducted La Traviata, Falstaff, Turandot, La Boheme, Il Trovatore and Otello for Opera Australia, Falstaff in Caracas, Carmen, La Bohème, Bluebeard’s Castle, Gianni Schicchi, Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Samson et Dalila and Don Giovanni at Washington National Opera, Un Giorno di Regno at the Caramoor International Music Festival, Nabucco and Rigoletto at Opera Queensland, Un Ballo in Maschera, Madama Butterfly,and Turandot in Opera de Quebec, as well as I Pagliacci /Cavalleria Rusticana, Don Giovanni, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia forPortOpera in Maine. He has led the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera and Los Angeles Opera orchestras, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, the Orchestra Filarmonica Mediterranea, the National Arts Center Orchestra of Ottawa, Orchestra da Camera di Firenze and the Orchestra Filarmonica di Sanremo.
His critically acclaimed conducting debut with Opera Australia of Verdi’s Falstaff assured his return for subsequent years: “The lion’s share of the credit for that triumph simply must be awarded to the conductor, Giovanni Reggioli, whose intimate and loving knowledge of the detail of this wonderful work inspired the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra to give consistently of its very best, providing a reading of the music so incandescent it rendered all but irrelevant slight shortfalls in other areas of the premiere performance. May Reggioli return soon, and often, to adorn the future performance rosters of Opera Australia.” (Opera~Opera).
Now a perennial favorite with Australian audiences and press alike, Giovanni has led performances of Rigoletto, Falstaff, La Traviata, Otello, Nabucco, La Boheme and Turandot.
Recent highlights feature acclaimed performances of Le Nozze di Figaro with the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, his debut with the Minnesota Opera conducting Il Trovatore, the special New Year’s Gala Bravissimo! at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, his debut in Ottawa, Canada, conducting the National Arts Centre Orchestra for the Black and White Opera Gala, performances of Madama Butterfly and Un ballo in maschera for the Opéra de Québec, Il barbiere di Siviglia for PortOpera and at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome where he conducted Aida. A favourite at the Washington National Opera, he has conducted I Vespri Sicilani, Samson et Dalila and La Traviata and, in September 2006, he was asked, at short notice, to step in and take over the season opening productions of the Washington National Opera: Bluebeard’s Castle and Gianni Schicchi.
Giovanni has served as assistant conductor and vocal coach at the New York City Opera, Juilliard Opera Center, the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo, the Barga Opera Festival and the Settimana Musicale Senese at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena working with such celebrated conductors as Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Chailly, Gerard Schwartz, Julius Rudel, Bruno Bartoletti, Edoardo Muller and Peter Maag. He also served as head coach and music administrator for the Washington Opera’s Vilar Young Artist Program from 2001 to 2004, working directly with Placido Domingo. During his tenure there, he conducted the “Operalia Gala”, featuring Placido Domingo, and the Washington Opera Gala, televised for PBS, working alongside Valery Giergiev.
A versatile musician, Maestro Reggioli has accompanied in recital such renowned opera singers as Renata Scotto, Shirley Verrett, Placido Domingo, Cecilia Bartoli, Rolando Paneraï, Anna Moffo, Carlo Bergonzi and Jennifer Larmore.
He was the recipient of the conducting scholarship at the Laboratorio Lirico di Alessandria in Italy and the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship at the Juilliard School in New York in 1991, 1992, and 1993. He also spent 6 years as Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, working with James Levine, among others.
He was the recipient of the conducting scholarship at the Laboratorio Lirico di Alessandria in Italy and the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship at the Juilliard School in New York in 1991, 1992, and 1993.
Giovanni Reggioli makes his home in Washington, DC with his wife Alizon and daughter Camilla.
