Antonio Pappano
Encyclopedia
Antonio Pappano is a British conductor
and pianist
of Italian parentage.
Pappano's family relocated to England from Castelfranco in Miscano
near Benevento
, Italy in 1958 and at the time of his birth his parents worked in the restaurant
business, but Pasquale Pappano, his father, was by vocation a singing teacher. When Antonio was 13 years old, he moved with his family to Connecticut
, in the United States. After musical training in piano, composition, and conducting, he became a rehearsal accompanist at the New York City Opera
by the age of 21. Pappano is the youngest conductor to lead the orchestra
of the Royal Opera House
in London, accompanying both the Royal Opera
and Royal Ballet.
A pianist as well as a conductor, he attracted the attention of fellow pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim
, whose assistant he became at the Bayreuth Festival
. He worked in Barcelona
and Frankfurt
, and served as an assistant to Michael Gielen
. His first conducting appearance at Den Norske Opera was in 1987, and he became music director there in 1990.
In 1992, Pappano became music director of La Monnaie
, the Belgian Royal Opera House, a post he held until 2002. In 1999, he was named the music director of the Royal Opera House
(ROH), Covent Garden
effective with the 2002-2003 season. At Covent Garden, Pappano and Elaine Padmore, the ROH Director of Opera, share responsibility for production. His current ROH contract is through 2013.
Pappano has also been principal guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
. In 2005 he became music director of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
. He records regularly for EMI Classics. His commercial recordings include the following releases:
Pappano is married to Pamela Bullock, an American vocal coach. He rarely sees his family, who live in the United States.
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
and pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
of Italian parentage.
Pappano's family relocated to England from Castelfranco in Miscano
Castelfranco in Miscano
Castelfranco in Miscano is a comune in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 90 km northeast of Naples and about 30 km northeast of Benevento....
near Benevento
Benevento
Benevento is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 km northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 m above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and Sabato...
, Italy in 1958 and at the time of his birth his parents worked in the restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
business, but Pasquale Pappano, his father, was by vocation a singing teacher. When Antonio was 13 years old, he moved with his family to Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, in the United States. After musical training in piano, composition, and conducting, he became a rehearsal accompanist at the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
by the age of 21. Pappano is the youngest conductor to lead the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
of the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
in London, accompanying both the Royal Opera
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
and Royal Ballet.
A pianist as well as a conductor, he attracted the attention of fellow pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
, whose assistant he became at the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
. He worked in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, and served as an assistant to Michael Gielen
Michael Gielen
-Professional career:Gielen was born in Dresden, Germany, to opera director Josef Gielen. Through his mother, Rose, he is the nephew of Eduard Steuermann and Salka Steuermann Viertel. He began his career as a pianist in Buenos Aires, where he studied with Erwin Leuchter and gave an early...
. His first conducting appearance at Den Norske Opera was in 1987, and he became music director there in 1990.
In 1992, Pappano became music director of La Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
, the Belgian Royal Opera House, a post he held until 2002. In 1999, he was named the music director of the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
(ROH), Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
effective with the 2002-2003 season. At Covent Garden, Pappano and Elaine Padmore, the ROH Director of Opera, share responsibility for production. His current ROH contract is through 2013.
Pappano has also been principal guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is the leading symphony orchestra in Israel. It was originally known as the Palestine Orchestra, and in Hebrew as התזמורת הסימפונית הארץ ישראלית The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit...
. In 2005 he became music director of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
The Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the best-known orchestras in Italy. It is based at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. At various times it has been known as the Symphony Orchestra of the Augusteo and Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia and the...
. He records regularly for EMI Classics. His commercial recordings include the following releases:
- Philippe BoesmansPhilippe Boesmans-Life:Boesmans was born in Tongeren and studied piano at the Conservatory in Liège, where he was also introduced to serial composing techniques by Pierre Froidebise. However, it was only after coming into contact with the "Liège Group" in 1957 that he began to write music, as a self-taught composer...
: Wintermärchen - Jules MassenetJules MassenetJules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
: ManonManonManon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
, WertherWertherWerther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.... - Giacomo PucciniGiacomo PucciniGiacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
: Il TritticoIl tritticoIl trittico is the title of a collection of three one-act operas, Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi, by Giacomo Puccini...
, La BohèmeLa bohèmeLa bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, La RondineLa rondineLa rondine is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert...
, ToscaToscaTosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Madama ButterflyMadama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco... - Gioachino Rossini: Stabat MaterStabat Mater (Rossini)Rossini composed his Stabat Mater late in his career after retiring from the composition of opera. He began the work in 1831 but did not complete it until 1841.-Composition:...
- Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
: Don Carlo, Il trovatoreIl trovatoreIl trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto... - Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
: Tristan und IsoldeTristan und IsoldeTristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting... - Hugo WolfHugo WolfHugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...
: Lieder, with tenor Ian BostridgeIan BostridgeIan Bostridge CBE is an English tenor, well known for his performances as an opera singer and as a song recitalist.-Early life and education:...
Pappano is married to Pamela Bullock, an American vocal coach. He rarely sees his family, who live in the United States.
Sources
Maeckelbergh, Lucrèce, Antonio Pappano: Con Passione. Snoeck, 2006 (ISBN 9053495274).External links
- Full Biography at IMG ArtistsIMG ArtistsIMG Artists LLC is a top universal performing arts management corporation that was acquired by International Management Group in 1984. Chairman and CEO of IMG, Mark McCormack, bought out Hamlen/Landau, a small, New York based artist-management music agency, founded by Charles Hamlen and Edna...
- Antonio Pappano biography at Royal Opera House Covent GardenRoyal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
- Antonio Pappano recordings on EMI Classics
- Web page on Pappano from Bridgeport Central High School
- Interview with Antonio Pappano by Bruce Duffie, December 8, 1996