Gianluca Capuano

Born in Milan in 1968, Gianluca Capuano studied organ, composition, and conducting at the Conservatory of his hometown and also completed a degree in philosophy at the University of Milan. Early on, he specialized in early music and historically informed performance practice, performing as a conductor, organist, and continuo player across Europe, the United States, Russia, and Japan. In 2006, Capuano founded the ensemble Il canto di Orfeo, with which he has also appeared at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala. He debuted there in 2013 with Raskatov’s A Dog’s Heart and took part in a 2015 production of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten. In collaboration with Concerto Köln, he prepared Leonardo Vinci’s Artaserse. Capuano has conducted Bellini’s Norma with Cecilia Bartoli in the title role at the Edinburgh Festival, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden — a collaboration that has continued at the Salzburg Festival. Since 2017, he has conducted the Musiciens du Prince — Monaco there in works by Handel, Rossini, Mozart, Gluck, and Haydn, and, at the Whitsun Festival 2025, the Vivaldi project Hotel Metamorphosis. Capuano has served as the ensemble’s Chief Conductor since 2019. He also maintains a regular association with Zurich Opera, where he has led productions of Haydn’s Orlando paladino, Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, and Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri and La cenerentola. He has conducted Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at the Vienna Staatsoper and Rossini’s Il turco in Italia and Handel’s Semele at the Bavarian Staatsoper. Additional engagements include Dresden’s Semperoper, the Hamburg Staatsoper, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome. In the 2025-26 season, Capuano will conduct La cenerentola at La Scala in Milan, Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Zurich, and Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in Vienna. He received the Italian Music Critics’ Association Premio Abbiati as Best Conductor in 2022.

Lucerne Festival debut on 16 September 2018 conducting the Musiciens du Prince — Monaco in Rossini’s La cenerentola.

Mai 2025