Biography

Renowned as an expert interpreter and champion of bel canto opera and a specialist in French repertoire and early Verdi, Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola is in demand worldwide as both an operatic and symphonic conductor. He is Music Director at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Principal Guest Conductor at Deutsche Oper Berlin. In May 2022, Enrique was named the first ever Conductor in Residence at the Bregenzer Festspiele, underlining his close relationship with the Festival, having made his Bregenz debut in 2016 for an orchestral concert. From 2012/13 to 2018/19, Mazzola served as Artistic & Music Director of the Orchestre National d’Île de France. Reflecting his significant contribution to musical life in France, he was made a Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres in October 2018.

Plans for the 2022/23 season with Lyric Opera of Chicago include productions of Verdi’s Ernani & Don Carlos, Rossini’s Le comte Ory and a gala performance for the Chicago premiere of Kevin Puts’ The Brightness of Light with Renée Fleming and Rod Gilfry. This season will also see return engagements for Enrique with the Orchestre National de France, Detroit Symphony and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. On the operatic stage, in 2022/23 Enrique will return to Opernhaus Zurich (Roberto Devereux), Dutch National Opera (Maria Stuarda), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Massenet’s Hérodiade in concert) and the Bregenzer Festival (Madama Butterfly & Ernani).

Recent seasons include notable debuts with Salzburg Festspiele (Orphée aux Enfers), Wiener Staatsoper (Don Pasquale), Dutch National Opera (Anna Bolena, Donizetti Queens in Concert), Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Oslo Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony, Utah Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Brussels Philharmonic, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Return engagements have included Metropolitan Opera (La fille du régiment), Opernhaus Zurich (Turco in Italia, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Il barbiere di Siviglia, I puritani), Bregenzer Festspiele (Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto & Mosè in Egitto), Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, Sao Paulo State Symphony, and Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Luisa Miller, Il barbiere di Siviglia).

Opera has also included the Rossini Opera Festival (La gazzetta), Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (Tancredi, Don Pasquale, La scala di seta, L’occasione fa il ladro, Il signor Bruschino), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Le prophète, Dinorah in concert, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Le Vaisseau fantome, Falstaff, Vasco da Gama, Les contes d’Hoffmann) and the Bolshoi Theatre (La sonnambula). Glyndebourne Festival Opera has included Don Pasquale, Poliuto, L’elisir d’amore and Il barbiere di Siviglia. Opera credits also include Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (L’italiana in Algeri), New National Theatre Tokyo (Don Giovanni), Opera du Rhin (Macbeth, La Cenerentola) and Teatro alla Scala (Don Pasquale). He has regularly devoted time to working with young musicians, among them Accademia Teatro alla Scala, Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris, Opéra Studio de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Ryan Opera Center, Codarts of Rotterdam and has given conducting masterclasses for the students of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon.

European festivals have included Falstaff (Aix-en-Provence), Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Enescu Festival and Haydn Festival with ONDIF, Bregenzer Festspiele, Salzburg Festspiele, BBC Proms in 2016 with the Glyndebourne new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia, München Opernfestspiele, Rossini Opera Festival, Biennale of Venice, Wexford Opera Festival, Festival de Granada and Les Chorégies d’Orange. Between 1999 and 2003 he was the Artistic and Music Director of the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte in Montepulciano, where he conducted many symphonic concerts and new operatic productions with the Royal Northern College of Music Symphony Orchestra.

An accomplished interpreter of contemporary music, he commissioned and premiered several works with ONDIF and led many other premieres with major European orchestras. Opera credits also include the world premiere of Colla’s Il processo (La Scala); Il re nudo by Luca Lombardi (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma), Medusa by Arnaldo de Felice (Bayerische Staatsoper) and Isabella by Azio Corghi (Rossini Opera Festival).

September 2022

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