Musical direction
Giampaolo Bisanti, Musical Director
Giampaolo Bisanti has been the Musical Director of our company since 2022. He studied orchestral conducting, clarinet, piano, and composition at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan, his hometown. He later trained with Yuri Ahronovitch at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena and with Donato Renzetti. Throughout his career, he has won numerous competitions and, from the very beginning, has been invited to conduct in some of the world’s most prestigious theaters.
In recent seasons, he has led performances of La Traviata in Florence, Palermo, Muscat, and Catania; Turandot in Seoul, Turin, and Cagliari; Rigoletto in Berlin; Macbeth and Madama Butterfly in Barcelona, Venice, Florence, and Monte Carlo; Carmen in Zurich and Dresden; Anna Bolena in Lisbon; L’Elisir d’Amore at the Opéra National de Paris; Lucia di Lammermoor at the Staatsoper in Hamburg and Tokyo; Adriana Lecouvreur, Un Ballo in Maschera, Cavalleria Rusticana, and Pagliacci at La Scala in Milan; L’Elisir d’Amore in Seattle; Il Trittico, Norma, and Il Trovatore in Hamburg; Macbeth in Vienna; Anna Bolena in Bilbao; Il Pirata in Amsterdam; Otello and Nabucco in Vienna; Aida in Sydney; as well as numerous concerts.
From 2016 to 2022, he was the Musical Director of the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari. In Liège, he has conducted Rigoletto, Anna Bolena, Alzira, La Sonnambula, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Rusalka, and Falstaff, along with several concerts. Among his upcoming engagements are new productions of Benvenuto Cellini at the Semperoper in Dresden, Madama Butterfly at the Staatsoper in Vienna, Adriana Lecouvreur at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, and Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, as well as Nabucco at the Staatsoper in Vienna, Tosca in Hamburg, at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, and at La Scala in Milan, and Madama Butterfly at Opera Australia in Sydney. This season, he returns for La Traviata, Tristan und Isolde, and Werther, along with the concerts Pucciniana and La Damnation de Faust.
Dear friends,
As we embark on this third season together, we are crossing a new crucial milestone in the quest for innovation led by Stefano Pace, to which I am delighted to contribute. The programme we have carefully curated stands out for its refinement and the inclusion of several works that have been absent for many years. This ambition for renewal, combined with bold staging choices and the constant pursuit of the highest musical quality, lies at the heart of our artistic project.
The Orchestra, Chorus, and the entire technical and artistic team of the Theatre, through their talent and dedication, beautifully embody this transformation. The expansion of our repertoire, welcomed with enthusiasm and passion by our musicians and chorists, attests to this dynamic. The technical and musical complexity of the works scheduled for both the past season and the upcoming one has only strengthened their resolve, their hard work unfolding in an atmosphere of joy and contagious energy.
The integration of new talents into the Orchestra, following rigorous competitions, has breathed new life into our ensemble. This renewed energy contributes to achieving one of the goals I have set myself: to forge a unique and recognisable sound. The work that several musicians are carrying out in parallel, as part of a new series of chamber music concerts based on their own repertoire suggestions and instrumental combinations, also follows this direction. Playing together, even in small groups, allows for better acquaintance, harmonising one’s sound with that of colleagues, and is therefore extremely beneficial for the overall sound of the orchestra!
I also applaud the Direction’s desire to invite, alongside the regulars of our stage whom we always welcome back with pleasure, new personalities for their debuts in Liège. This season, we will host many artists who usually grace the world’s greatest stages: this approach aims to diversify and broaden the experience of our loyal audience, but also to attract new spectators and further establish the Opéra Royal de Wallonie- Liège among the leading European opera houses.
I would like to share with you one last thought on the decision to commission new compositions from young emerging composers on the international scene. It is always important to stimulate and make known the contemporary musical language and the forms of expression towards which we are heading today. In this regard, as a prelude to the developments expected in later seasons, the commission given to the extraordinary young conductor and composer Andrea Battistoni for a work in homage to Giacomo Puccini is promising: a combination of famous themes, unpublished material, and original pages read through the daily life of a modern thirty-something! A way to bring younger generations closer to a musical universe that is both captivating and rooted in symphonic tradition.
As the Musical Director of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie- Liège, I am thrilled about this adventure that we are writing together, reflecting our shared passion for opera and our uncompromising commitment to artistic excellence.