BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
He has directed over seventy opera productions in Italy and abroad. He currently teaches Theory and Technique of Stage Interpretation and Opera Direction at the Conservatorio E. Dall'Abaco di Verona. He has also taught Istituzioni di Regia at the Universities of Bergamo and Pavia. Since 2023, he has been the Director of the Master in Opera Direction for the VAO (Verona Opera Academy) consortium and a member of its Executive Board. He is part of the Doctoral College and serves as Supervisor for the DIN-ARMH PhD Program (2024–2027 cycle).
From 1997 to 2010, he was Deputy Scientific Director of the Donizetti Foundation, and from 2004 to 2014, he was Artistic Director of the Gaetano Donizetti Theatre in Bergamo. He founded and led to success the Bergamo Musica Festival Gaetano Donizetti.
As an author and editor, he has published numerous musicological essays and collections of studies devoted to opera dramaturgy and the history of opera staging. He is a member of the Scientific Board for the Critical Edition of the Works of Gaetano Donizetti (National Edition). Together with Paolo Rossini, he collaborated to the Critical Edition of Deux hommes et une femme (Rita) by Donizetti.
He is also a member of the Committee for the Safeguarding of the Art of Italian Opera Singing, where he coordinates the Working Group on education and contributed to drafting the application dossier that, in 2024, secured recognition of Italian opera singing as an element of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage.
From 1997 to 2010, he was Deputy Scientific Director of the Donizetti Foundation, and from 2004 to 2014, he was Artistic Director of the Gaetano Donizetti Theatre in Bergamo. He founded and led to success the Bergamo Musica Festival Gaetano Donizetti.
As an author and editor, he has published numerous musicological essays and collections of studies devoted to opera dramaturgy and the history of opera staging. He is a member of the Scientific Board for the Critical Edition of the Works of Gaetano Donizetti (National Edition). Together with Paolo Rossini, he collaborated to the Critical Edition of Deux hommes et une femme (Rita) by Donizetti.
He is also a member of the Committee for the Safeguarding of the Art of Italian Opera Singing, where he coordinates the Working Group on education and contributed to drafting the application dossier that, in 2024, secured recognition of Italian opera singing as an element of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage.
EDUCATION AND THEATRE PRODUCTIONS
Born in Ivrea, he earned a classical high school diploma and studied music at the local Music High School. These were years in which the Ivrea area still reflected the extraordinary influence of Adriano Olivetti and the Movement of Comunità. During this time, he became involved in the city's cultural activities. He was a member of the Concert Society and attended the local Cineclub, chaired by his father Adriano. Out of passion, he played double bass in small jazz groups, co-founded the Ivrea Jazz Club with a group of friends, and contributed to the early editions of the Euro Jazz Festival. He also performed with the Music High School’s classical orchestra.
He later moved to Bergamo and graduated in Musicology at the School of Musical Paleography and Philology in Cremona with a thesis on Gaetano Donizetti's string quartets. At the same time, he worked as a librarian for about three years.
He became a journalist.
His university years marked also the beginning of his theatrical practical experiences. He familiarized himself with the basic skills of various stage professions, working as an extra, props assistant, stagehand, actor, lighting technician, sound technician, stage manager, assistant director, director, and playwright. He also studied acting and diction.
Starting in 1981, he had the opportunity to collaborate, in various roles, with numerous major theatre directors. In 1990, Riccardo Allorto, then Artistic Director of the Donizetti Theatre, invited him to serve as a musicology consultant. In 1991, he ranked first in the national competition of the "Laboratorio Lirico di Alessandria". This marked the beginning of an intense period as assistant opera director, including a production of Mozart’s "La finta giardiniera" with Filippo Crivelli (director). He would later work again with Crivelli on "Nabucco" (Carminati–Crivelli, Bergamo, Donizetti Theatre, 1994) and "Caterina Cornaro" (Gavazzeni–Crivelli, Bergamo, Donizetti Theatre, 1995). In 2000, he began a long-standing collaboration with Ugo Gregoretti.
Since 1996, he has signed productions as stage director, presenting operas in the programs of major Italian, European, and Asian theatres, including: Teatro Regio in Turin, La Fenice in Venice, Carré in Amsterdam, Euskalduna in Bilbao, Bunka Kaikan and Nissey in Tokyo, Center of Performing Arts in Seoul, and Festival Hall in Osaka.
Throughout his artistic career, he has worked with numerous leading figures, including Alessandro Corbelli, Luciana Serra, Enzo Dara, Katia Ricciarelli, Filippo Crivelli, Ugo Gregoretti, Tiziano Severini, Bruno Campanella, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Marcello Rota, Stefano Montanari, Sebastiano Rolli, Desirée Rancatore, Dimitra Theodossiou, José Bros, Michele Pertusi, Dorina Takova, Nelly Miricioiu, Simone Alaimo, Walter Fraccaro, Francesco Meli, Elena Mosuc, and Celso Albelo.
Naxos has released DVD recordings of his productions of Lucrezia Borgia and Roberto Devereux.
OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH, TEACHING AND INSTITUTIONAL INVOLVEMENT
His scholarly work has mainly focused on musical dramaturgy, with a particular interest in early 19th-century Italian opera. His most significant contributions concern the relationship between opera textes and their staging.
From 1988 to 1997, as a journalist, he collaborated with several local, national, and international publications, writing articles on the Italian operatic tradition.
He has written articles, essays, and program notes for traditional theatres, concert societies, festivals, and opera foundations.
Since 1991, he has been an associate member of the "Ateneo di Scienze, Lettere e Arti" of Bergamo.
He has published musicological essays in specialized journals and edited major collections of scholarly studies.
For the "Critical Edition of the Works of Gaetano Donizetti", he collaborated with Paolo Rossini on the new critical edition of Deux hommes et une femme (Rita ou le mari battu).
In 1989, he won the national selection for Italian conservatories and, since 1991, has taught "Arte scenica" (Staging Opera) in various music conservatories.
He has been repeatedly elected to the Consiglio of the "Benedetto Marcello Conservatory" in Venice.
He currently is Professor at the "Evaristo Dall’Abaco Conservatory" in Verona, where he teaches "Theory and Technique of Stage Interpretation" and "Opera Stage Direction".
Since 2023, he has been Director Master in Opera Direction for the *Verona Academy for Opera*.
He has also taught "Istituzioni di regia teatrale" at the University of Cremona (Faculty of Musicology, for six years) and at the University of Bergamo (for three years).
His institutional collaboration with the Donizetti Theatre in Bergamo began in 1990. There, he oversaw musicological and scholarly activities under the artistic direction of Riccardo Allorto, Luciano Alberti, Alessio Vlad, and Fabrizio Maria Carminati.
He is frequently invited to serve on scientific committees for exhibitions and international conferences, and to juries of major international singing competitions. He has held lectures, talks, lessons, and seminars for Italian and international universities and cultural institutions, including Teatro alla Scala, the University of Cambridge, and Teatro La Fenice. He teaches masterclasses for prestigious institutions such as Showa University, the "Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Academy", and the "Accademia Verdiana" of the Teatro Regio di Parma.
For the "National Edition of the Works of Gaetano Donizetti", he has been a member of the scientific committee appointed by the Italian Ministry of Culture since 2001 and served as Secretary-Treasurer until 2018. He is also a member of the international scientific committee for the same project.
From 1997 to 2010, he served as Deputy Scientific Director of the "Fondazione Donizetti" in Bergamo.
For eleven years (2004–2014), he was Artistic Director of the "Donizetti Theatre" in Bergamo, where he founded the "Bergamo Musica Festival Gaetano Donizetti" in 2006.
Within this festival, he curated the production and distribution of more than 50 opera and ballet titles (around 150 performances), as well as hundreds of concerts, lectures, theatre performances, and film screenings. During the festival period, the theatre’s attendance grew significantly (from 10,000 to approximately 18,000 spectators per edition), ticket sales doubled, and the event achieved notable international visibility.
The festival also published numerous DVD and CD recordings, through partnerships with prestigious labels such as Bongiovanni, Dynamic, and Naxos, now distributed worldwide.
In 2006 and 2010, he oversaw the artistic direction and organization of two successful tours in Japan, with performances on the country's leading opera stages.
Between 2007 and 2009, on behalf of the Donizetti Foundation, he oversaw the restoration and reopening of the "Teatro Sociale" in Bergamo Alta and Gaetano Donizetti's Birthplace, serving as artistic consultant. Together with Mauro Baronchelli, he curated "Duecento", a crossover celebration held during the reopening of the "Teatro Sociale" (May–July 2009).
In 2011 and 2013, he collaborated on the creation of permanent exhibitions at Donizetti’s Birthplace.
From 2003 to 2022, on behalf of the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello Conservatory, he developed the "OperaStudio" project, which produced over forty opera titles featured in prominent seasons of traditional theatres, opera-symphonic foundations, festivals, and international events.
He is one of the experts on the committee that drafted the application dossier for the Art of Italian Opera Singing, which was approved by the Italian government and inscribed in 2023 on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity* (ICH).
Throughout his academic activity, he has collaborated with many of the leading scholars in the field, including: William Ashbrook, Roger Parker, Gabriele Dotto, Fabrizio Della Seta, Philip Gossett, Virgilio Bernardoni, Claudio Toscani, Michele Girardi, Luca Zoppelli, Livio Aragona, Federico Fornoni, and Paolo Fabbri.
(Last updated in June 2025)