Tuscan conductor Nicola Luisotti serves as music director of San Francisco Opera, and principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony. He was recently appointed Music Director of Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, one of Italy’s oldest and most historic theaters. Since his international debut in 2002, Luisotti has garnered enthusiastic praise from both audiences and critics at venues throughout the world. Recent triumphs include his La Scala debut with Attila in a new production by Gabriele Lavia and his leadership of Puccini’s rarely performed La fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera in December of 2010. In conjunction with these 100^th Anniversary performances Luisotti was awarded the Premio Puccini Award.

In his third season as Music Director of San Francisco Opera, Luisotti will conduct Turandot, Carmen, Don Giovanni, and Attila, the latter two in new productions. His operatic engagements for the 2011-2012 Season also include a return visit to La Scala for Tosca and appearances with Teatro di San Carlo in the rarely performed Verdi opera, I Masnadieri. Information on future plans with Teatro di San Carlo will be announced in the Spring of 2012. Critically acclaimed for his orchestral conducting, Luisotti will also make appearances with six great orchestras this season including his own San Francisco Opera Orchestra presented by Cal Performances, the Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Madrid’s Orquesta Nacional de España and the orchestras of Cleveland and Philadelphia.

After his San Francisco Opera debut in 2005 conducting La forza del destino, Luisotti has led performances of La bohème, Il trovatore, Salome, Otello, La fanciulla del West, Aida, Le nozze di Figaro, and Madama Butterfly with the company. His critically acclaimed international debut leading a new production at the Stuttgart State Opera led to performances with nearly every major opera company across the globe, including the Bavarian State Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Dresden Staatskapelle, Frankfurt Opera, La Scala, Los Angeles Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Royal Opera House, Seattle Opera, Teatro Carlo Felice, Bologna’s Teatro Comunale, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Real, Teatro di San Carlo, and Vienna State Opera. He has also led operatic productions in Japan’s Suntory Hall, where he serves as Principal Conductor of the Tokyo Symphony.

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