Carlo Rizzi

A specialist in Italian opera, conductor Carlo Rizzi has often led lesser-known works in addition to the monuments of the genre. He also conducts non-Italian works as well as orchestral music of various kinds. Rizzi has a substantial recording catalog on labels large and small. That catalog included a series of albums with various singers devoted to the songs of Gaetano Donizetti; the third volume in that series appeared in 2025 on the Opera Rara label. Rizzi was born in Milan on July 19, 1960. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, going on for further work with Russian-born conductor Vladimir Delman in Bologna and with Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. Making his debut in 1982 at the helm of a production of Donizetti's rarely heard comedy L'ajo nell'Imbarazzo at the Milan Angelicum, he gained attention when he took the top prize at the inaugural Toscanini Conductors' Competition in Parma. By the late '80s, Rizzi was conducting beyond Italy; he appeared at the Buxton Festival in the U.K. in 1988, and that led to invitations to conduct at Covent Garden in London and Opera North in Leeds. In 1992, he made his recording debut, leading the London Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Verdi's La Traviata on the Teldec label. Rizzi recorded for Teldec through the '90s, sometimes making appearances on Apex and other labels. In 1992, Rizzi was named music director of the Welsh National Opera. He stepped down in 2001 but returned from 2004 to 2007. During his tenure there, he learned to speak the Welsh language. Rizzi held prestigious guest engagements during this period, beginning with an appearance as guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2004. Rizzi later appeared at La Scala in Milan. His recordings with the Welsh National Opera included one of Leoš Janáček's Katya Kabanova in 2007. In addition to major Italian works, Rizzi has recorded such rarities as Rossini's Ciro in Babilonia and Piccinni's La Pescatrice. On recordings, he has led orchestras backing such major stars as Edita Gruberová, Jane Eaglen, and Juan Diego Flórez. He also conducts orchestral music, and in the 2010s, he led the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra in several albums devoted to the music of Ravel. Rizzi was named music director of the Opera Rara label in 2019, and his contract there has been extended through 2026. In 2022, for that label, he led the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a recording of Ruggero Leoncavallo's Zingari. For Opera Rara, he recorded, as a pianist with diverse singers, albums of the little-known songs of Gaetano Donizetti in the mid-2020s; the third volume in that series, featuring tenor Michael Spyres, appeared in 2025. By that time, his catalog comprised well over 50 recordings. ~ James Manheim, Rovi