Roberto Abbado

Roberto Abbado, who has been awarded the Premio Abbiati by the Italian National Association of Music Critics in recognition of his outstanding artistic achievements and meticulous season programming, is widely regarded as one of today’s leading orchestral conductors. Beginning in 2026, he assumes the post of Music Director of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra. He currently also serves as Principal Conductor of the Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna. He previously held music directorships with the Munich Radio Orchestra (1992–1998), Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (2015–2019), and the Festival Verdi (2018–2022). 

He has also appeared on the podium with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Vienna Symphony, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, firmly establishing his international reputation.

Among the engagements for the 2025/26 season, in addition to several appointments in Seoul with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra, are: Otello in a new production by Federico Tiezzi at the Festival Verdi in Parma, Lucia di Lammermoor at the Wiener Staatsoper, two operatic titles (Idomeneo and Samson et Dalila) and concerts in Bologna with the Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, as well as other concerts in Treviso with the Orchestra Regionale Filarmonia Veneta, Parma and Ferrara with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini.

A passionate interpreter of contemporary music, Abbado’s repertoire includes composers like Luciano Berio, Bruno Maderna, Goffredo Petrassi, Sylvano Bussotti, Niccolò Castiglioni, Azio Corghi, Ivan Fedele, Luca Francesconi, Giorgio Battistelli, Michele dall’Ongaro, Giacomo Manzoni, Salvatore Sciarrino, Fabio Vacchi, Pascal Dusapin, Henri Dutilleux, Olivier Messiaen, Alfred Schnittke, Hans Werner Henze, Helmut Lachenmann, John Adams, Ned Rorem, Christopher Rouse, Steven Stucky, Charles Wuorinen and Silvia Colasanti.

His recordings include Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi (nominated “Best Recording of the Year” by the BBC Music Magazine in 1999), Rossini’s Tancredi (winner of the “Echo Klassik Deutsche Schallplattenpreis” in 1997), Don Pasquale with Eva Mei and Renato Bruson, Turandot with Eva Marton, Ben Heppner, and Margaret Price. Under Decca he has recorded Verismo Arias with Mirella Freni, L’amour and Arias for Rubini with Juan Diego Flórez. With Deutsche Grammophon he has issued Bel Canto (“Echo Klassik Deutscher Schallplattenpreis” 2009), Revive – both with Elina Garanča – and a DVD of Fedora with Mirella Freni and Placido Domingo from New York’s Met. Roberto Abbado was the first Italian conductor to lead the traditional New Year’s Concert at La Fenice in Venice on 1 January 2008 (Hardy Classic Video DVD). Moreover, three DVDs from the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro have also been issued: Ermione, under the label Dynamic; Zelmira with Juan Diego Flórez, Kate Aldrich and Gregory Kunde under Decca; Mosè in Egitto with Sonia Ganassi, Dmitry Korchak, Riccardo Zanellato and Alex Esposito under Opus Arte and Le siège de Corinthe under C major. With Dynamic he has recorded Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Le trouvère directed by Robert Wilson, Un ballo in maschera (Gustavo III) and Macbeth in French, the performance has won the Premio Speciale della Critica Musicale “Franco Abbiati” 2021.