Bari's Teatro Petruzzelli Names New Music Director

Conductor and Baroque violinist Stefano Montanari will step into the role for an initial three-year term

The historic Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy has named conductor and baroque violinist Stefano Montanari as its new Music Director. He will step into the role in January 2024.

Montanari has already had several successful engagements in Bari, including their season-opening performance of The Barber of Seville and Mahler's Ninth Symphony in February 2023.

A renowned baroque violinist, Stefano Montanari is now much in demand as a conductor with both period and modern orchestras. In 2010, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for his recording of Purcell’s O Solitude with countertenor Andreas Scholl on the Decca label.

Montanari regularly conducts in many of the major Italian opera houses and has also made appearances in Lyon, Moscow, and Stuttgart, in addition to the Edinburgh Festival and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London.

"In Stefano Montanari, we have a true conductor, who will infect us with his enthusiasm," said Massimo Biscardi, the superintendent of the Teatro Petruzzelli Foundation. "The choice was shared with the players of the orchestra," he added.

Montanari also announced his intention to freshen up the range of repertoire heard in Bari. "There will be a traditional repertoire and a less traditional one," he said. "Also, I will continue to play, when there is the possibility."