Renowned as an expert interpreter and champion of bel canto opera and a specialist in French repertoire, Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola is in demand worldwide as both an operatic and symphonic conductor. He has been Artistic & Music Director of the Orchestre National d’Île de France since 2012/13 and from 2018/19 is Principal Guest Conductor at Deutsche Oper Berlin. In October 2018 he was made a Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres reflecting his significant contribution to musical life in France.
This season’s plans include his debut with Wiener Staatsoper (Don Pasquale) and return visits to Metropolitan Opera (La fille du regiment), Opernhaus Zurich (Turco in Italia), Bregenzer Festspiele (Rigoletto), Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec and London Philharmonic Orchestra. He returns to Deutsche Oper Berlin to conduct their new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann and a special charity gala performance featuring renowned international singers. Plans with ONDIF this season include recordings, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Cédric Tiberghien and works by Respighi, of whose work he is an acclaimed interpreter.
Recent seasons have included notable debuts with Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Metropolitan Opera (L’elisir d’amore), Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony, Brussels Philharmonic and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Return engagements have included Norske Opera (Don Giovanni), Lyric Opera of Chicago (I Puritani), Opernhaus Zurich (Maria Stuarda, Il barbiere di Siviglia, I puritani, Don Pasquale), Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, Sao Paulo State Symphony, Bregenzer Festspiele (Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsche Oper Berlin (most recently Le prophète) and Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Il Barbiere di Siviglia). With Orchestre National d’Île de France, highlights have included a concert version of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, recordings and concerts in Paris at the La Seine Musicale and their sold-out Philharmonie de Paris series.
Past opera has also included the Rossini Opera Festival (La gazzetta), Theatre des Champs-Elysées (Tancredi, Don Pasquale, La scala di seta, L’occasione fa il ladro, Il signor Bruschino), Den Norske Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin (Dinorah in concert, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Le Vaisseau fantome, Falstaff) and the Bolshoi Theatre (La sonnambula). Glyndebourne Festival Opera has included performances of Don Pasquale, Poliuto, L’elisir d’amore and Il Barbiere di Siviglia and with Glyndebourne On Tour he has conducted La Cenerentola and a new production of L’elisir d’amore. 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), Teatro alla Scala (Don Pasquale). He also regularly devotes time to working with young musicians, including from the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris, Opéra Studio de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Codarts of Rotterdam and has given conducting masterclasses with the students of the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris.
Major European festivals have included Falstaff at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Enescu Festival and Haydn Festival with Orchestre National d’Île de France, Bregenzer 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 has commissioned and conducted several premieres with ONDIF. He conducted the world premiere of Colla’s Il processo at La Scala, Il re nudo by Luca Lombardi at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Medusa by Arnaldo De Felice at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Isabella by Azio Corghi at the Rossini Opera Festival, and many other premieres with major European orchestras.
September 2018
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