OperaKUL started in 2016 with the aim of promoting the awareness of opera in the country. With a bazaar packed with stalls selling food, drinks, services, knick-knacks and even a costume booth for taking photos, the festival’s mainstay was comprised of talks, workshops and performances by established names in the choral and classical music scenes such as Ang Mei Foong, Chi Hoe Mak, Susanna Saw and performances by the Yin Qi Choir, KL City Opera Principal singers and chorus. Returning for a second year, even bigger and better, OperaKUL brings you a very special guest all the way from Italy.
Nicoletta Conti
Born in Bologna, Nicoletta Conti studied pianoforte, composition and conducting at the ConservatorioGieseppe Verdi in Milan a nd the Conservatorio di Musica G.B. Martini in Bologna. She also graduated from the University of Bologna in Musical Aesthe tics at DAMS (disciplines of art, music and drama), Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Bologna, Musicology (with the equivalent of a Master’s Degree). She went on to continue her studies in conducting with Franco Ferrara (Siena), Le opold Hager (Salzburg), Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa and Kurt Masur (Tanglewood). Winner of numerous prizes, including, inter alia, the First Prize Musica da Camera ͞Citta di Stresa͟, the Third Prize at Nicolai Malko for Orchestra Conductors (Copenhagen) , she began her career as a conductor in Italy and abroad, dedicating herself both to the operatic and symphonic repertoire. Following the conductor’s course held by Leonard Bernstein at I’Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, she was chosen by Maestro Bernstein to be his assistant conductor and make her debut with the ͞Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia͟. At the Capitol she received the prestigious Minerva Prize for the arts, the first Italian musician to be awarded it. In 2006, she received the honor of ͞CavalieredellaRepubblicaItaliana͟ by the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. She has since collaborated with important festivals and theatres, including Covent Garden, TeatroComunale in Florence and Bologna, Rossini Opera Festival and the Festival of the Itria Valley.
She combines her operatic work with a concert career, and has appeared alongside Luciano Pavarotti, Renato Bruson, Leo Nucci and Daniela Dessi. Orchestras she has conducted include, Orchestra Arturo Toscanini, Orchestra of th e Arena di Verona, the Tanglewood Music Festival Orchestra, Orchestra Regionale Toscana, the Kiushu Symphony Orchestra, the Hungarian Symphonic Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Citta di Ferrara, Orchestra da Camera di Bologna, Orhestra ͞I Filarmonici di Bologna͟, Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, Rishon Le Tzion Orchestra, Orchestra ͞I PomeriggiMusicali di Milano͟, StuttgarterFilarmoniker. Most recently, she has conducted Don Giovanni by Gazzaniga at the TeatroRegio di Torino, two contemporary operas in their p remiere performances at the Festival Mozart di Rovereto and at TeatroComunale di Bologna, Nabucco and Madama Butterfly in the Beppe d e Tomasi production at Teatro di Ascoli Piceno and Teatro di Fano.In August 2000, she assisted Maestro Antonio Pappano in London for the recording of the CD and film of Tosca with the Orchestra of Covent Garden. Maestro Conti received great acclaim when she conducted Madama Butterfly at the International Festival at Montepulciano. In August 2001, Maestro Conti assisted Maestr o Pappano with the London Symphony Orchestra for the recording of Il Trovatore and most recently conducted a concert in Lisbon with Angela Gheorgiu. She conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the double bill of I Pagliacci and SuorAngelicaa for Oper a Holland Park, and in a production of La Belle Helene and some Gala Concerts in Tokyo with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Most recently, she has conducted the Orchestra of TeatroLirico di Cagliari, the Israel Symphony Orchestra of RishonLeZion, th e Haydn Orchestra in Bolzano, the Verdi Orchestra in Milan, a production of ͞La Tragedie de Carmen͟ with the direction of Franco Ripa di Meana. In 2009, Nicoletta Conti conducted the annual concert for the European Parliament, when not regularly. In Mar 2010, Nicoletta was selected as one of the three candidates for the position of Director of Orchestral Activities at Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. While conducting regularly in Japan, this season, Nicoletta will conduct Lucia di Lammermoor for Opera Sai Company in Tokyo and give a talk about the work at the Italian Institute of Culture in Tokyo.