Paolo Olmi
Conductor
represented in North America and other countries
Paolo Olmi studied under Massimo Pradella and Franco Ferrara in Rome, and began his conducting career in 1979 after having studied the piano from an early age. Since making his operatic debut in 1986 at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, he has conducted in many of the major concert halls and opera houses throughout the world, including Europe, North and South America, Australia and Asia.
Successful productions have included Moses in Egypt at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, and Mr. Olmi was subsequently invited by Wolfgang Sawallisch to conduct this opera at the Bayerischer Staatsoper in Munich. He was later awarded, along with stage director Pier Luigi Pizzi, the French music critics' prize for the "Best Opera of the Year" for the outstanding production of William Tell at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Other operatic highlights have included Il Barbiere di Siviglia, The Thieving Magpie, Nabucco and Turandot at Barcelona Opera, a concert performance of Nabucco at the Royal Festival Hall in London, and Manon Lescaut at Teatro Colón di Buenos Aires.
In Italy, Mr. Olmi has also conducted a highly successful production of Rossini's Le Siège de Corinthe at the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, and also conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Symphony Chorus in a performance of Rossini's Stabat Mater at the Arena di Verona. In London, he has appeared at the Royal Festival Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducting Verdi's Requiem, and at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, where he made his debut conducting Rossini's Moses in Egypt. At Opéra de Lyon he made his debut with Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, and at the Strasbourg Opera he has appeared on numerous occasions conducting Tosca, Don Carlos and Ernani, along with a special performance of Rossini's Stabat Mater to celebrate the Italian presidency of the European Union. At the Royal Danish Opera, Mr. Olmi has also conducted Madama Butterfly, and he made his U.S. debut at the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1996 conducting Donizetti's Don Pasquale.
Since making his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1992, Mr. Olmi has returned on a number of occasions for productions of La Fanciulla del West, Aida, La Forza del Destino and Il Trovatore.
Mr. Olmi is also very active on the concert platform and has conducted such orchestras as Tokyo Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia Rome, Orchestre National de France, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra in London and the Orchestra of RAI Rome where he conducted the complete symphonies of Mendelssohn, which were televised by National Television. Following highly successful concerts in Spain with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra in 1996, he appeared with the Orchestra in September 1997 at the Athens Festival and toured with the orchestra again in Italy and Germany in 2000.
Following a highly successful debut at the Hamburg State Opera with Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Mr. Olmi was immediately invited to return for a new production of La Forza del Destino at the beginning of the 1998-1999 season. Engagements during the last few seasons have included his debut in Athens with La Bohème, at Stuttgart Opera conducting Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Un Ballo in Maschera with the New National Theatre in Tokyo, where he returned to conduct a new production of Nabucco in 2001 and Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore in 2002 with a very successful DVD. In January 2000 he conducted a triumphant performance of Verdi's Aida in concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Chorus, which was subsequently taken on tour in Italy; and in December 2000 he conducted the LPO on tour in Korea.
In 2000, Mr. Olmi conducted Aida in China at the new Opera House in Shanghai, which was a joint collaboration with Teatro Comunale di Firenze. In 2001 he conducted performances in Italy of the Verdi Requiem and the Four Sacred Pieces with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus to celebrate the Verdi Anniversary Year. He also conducted a production of Verdi's Rigoletto with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra Santa Cecilia Rome.
Recent engagements include highly successful concert performances of Verdi's Vespri Siciliani, Jerusalem and Falstaff with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw; a new production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the New National Theater in Tokyo; Andrea Chenier at Turin Opera and at Teatro La Fenice in Venice; concerts with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra; and performances with the Teatro La Fenice Venice at Beijing Festival. Other successful recent productions include La Gioconda at Deutsche Oper Berlin; Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam; a concert broadcast by Dutch Television to the Queen of Holland which was recorded by EMI Classic; and Rossini's Stabat Mater with London Philharmonic Orchestra while on tour in Italy. Upcoming engagements include Guillaume Tell at Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Un Ballo in Maschera at Bordeaux Opera; Rossini's Stabat Mater at Teatro La Fenice in Venice; Falstaff in Strasbourg; and concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and in Asia.
Mr. Olmi was recently appointed Music Director of Opéra National de Nancy et de Lorraine, and he has several upcoming contracts in Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon and Strasbourg.