Sir Antonio Pappano is a British pianist and conductor and the Music Director of the Royal Opera House.
Life and Music
Antonio Pappano was born in London to Italian parents. He moved to the United States at the age of 13, where he continued his studies in piano, composition and conducting. He began his professional career as a repetiteur and assistant conductor.
Pappano made his debut as an opera conductor in 1987, with La Bohème at Den Norske Opera in Oslo, and became Music Director there in 1990. During the 1990s he made his debuts at Covent Garden, English National Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Théâtre du Châtelet, Berlin Staatsoper, Vienna Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera and Bayreuth Festspiele.
At the age of 32 Pappano was named Music Director of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, where he remained for 10 years.
Pappano has also worked as a symphony orchestra conductor. From 1997 to 1999 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Phiharmonic Orchestra and he has conducted the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, London Symphony, Philharmonia, the Münchner Philharmonie, Berlin Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras.
He is currently Music Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
Pappano has released numerous opera and orchestral recordings on EMI Classics. He has partnered Hanna Chang, Leif Ove Andsnes and Maxim Vengerov in concerto recordings and Ian Bostridge in recital.
Did you know?
Pappano has received various honours, including Gramophone Artist of the Year in 2000, the 2003 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award 2004 and he was made a Commendatore of the Republic of Italy in 2008.
