Born to Salisbury, England, Jeffrey Tate studied medicine at Cambridge University, but his passion for music soon led him to leave the medical profession and to join the staff of Covent Garden in 1970. In 1976 he was assistant to Pierre Boulez to Bayreuth and, after an to experience alongside Herbert von Karajan to Salzburg, he made his debut in 1978 on the podium ofOpera Gothenburg with Carmen. The enormous success of this debut marked the beginning of a meteoric and successful career, which saw him on the podium of the most prestigiousOpera international theaters, including: Paris Théâtre du Châtelet, for Lulu and Peter Grimes; Opéra Bastille, for Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Wozzeck, Billy Budd; Palais Garnier, for Così fan tutte; London Covent Garden, for Idomeneo, Manon, Così fan tutte, Capriccio, Carmen, Lohengrin, Les Contes d'Hoffmann and Fliegender Holländer; New York Metropolitan, for Don Giovanni, Lulu, Mahagonny; Génève Grand Théâtre, for Lulu, Nozze di Figaro, Turn of the Screw and Ariadne auf Naxos; Wiener Staatsoper, for Rosenkavalier. Jeffrey Tate also conducted an important Ring to Köln and then to Paris with the Orchestre National de France; this very Ring was taken up by the Australian Opera in Adelaide in the first performance in Australian history. In Italy, Maestro Tate was First Guest Conductor and then Honorary Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI di Torino, where he conducted Oedipus rex, Die Schöpfung and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, among others. In 2002 his debut at the San Carlo in Naples, with Humperdinck'sopera Königskinder, won him the "Franco Abbiati" Italian music critics' prize. Appointed music director, he remained at the San Carlo until 2010 and conducted over to numerous concerts, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Walküre, Falstaff, Candide, L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, Peter Grimes and Entführung aus dem Serail. Also in Italy he conducted: to Rome, _Der fliegende Holländer _and Hänsel und Gretel; to Turin, Ariadne auf Naxos, Capriccio; at La Scala, _Peter Grimes, Rosenkavalier, Tannhäuser _and Ariadne auf Naxos; to Venice, Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung. In the symphonic field, Maestro Tate has conducted and continues to to collaborate with all the most important and prestigious international orchestras, including: London Symphony, Berliner Philharmoniker, Mozarteum-Orchester, Dresdner Philharmoniker, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestre de Paris, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, as well as the Symphony Orchestras of Toronto, Montreal, Melbourne and Sydney. Discography: Arabella, Hänsel und Gretel, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Lulu; by Mozart, the Piano Concertos with Mitsuko Uchida and the Symphonies with English Chamber Orchestra; by Elgar, the most important orchestral compositions with the London Symphony Orchestra; by Mendelssohns, _Sommernachtstraum _with the Rotterdamer Philharmoniker. France awarded him the titles of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres; England that of CBE (Commander of the British Empire).

Conceived from Piero Farulli within the Fiesole School of Music, in 30 years of training it has made a major contribution to the country's musical life with more than 1,000 musicians permanently employed in Italian and foreign symphony orchestras. Held to baptism from Riccardo Muti, the Orchestra has been invited to some of the most prestigious music venues, including Montpellier, Edinburgh, Berlin, Ljubljana, Madrid, Frankfurt, Prague, Budapest, Turku, and Buenos Aires, to unanimous critical and public acclaim. In April 2010 it performed the concert in honor of the fifth anniversary of the pontificate of His Holiness Benedict XVI, offered by President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano. In March 2014, the Orchestra was featured to Salzburg in the staging of Mozart's last opera , La clemenza di Tito, with the participation of the vocal cast of the Mozarteum of Salzburg; staging resumed in July, as part of the 2014 Estate Fiesolana, at the Teatro Romano of Fiesole. She has been conducted by, among others: C. Abbado, R. Abbado, S. Accardo, Y. Ahronovitch, P. Bellugi, L. Berio, G. Ferro, D. Gatti, C.M. Giulini, E. Inbal, Z. Mehta, R. Muti, G. Noseda, K. Penderecki, G. Sinopoli, J. Tate. He has recorded for Nuova Era, Aulos, Fonit Cetra, Stradivarius; he has recorded for RAI, Radio France and the European Radio Union. From 2000 to 2012 Nicola Paszkowski held the post of Maestro for the orchestra, currently held by to Giampaolo Pretto. Composers such as S. Bussotti, G. Battistelli and S. Colasanti have dedicated works to the OGI. In 2004 the Orchestra was awarded the "Abbiati Prize" by the National Association of Music Critics as the "best musical initiative, which since 1984 has trained thousands of professionals, constituting a unique point of reference for the training of young musicians and one of the happiest expressions of the teaching role, irreplaceable from 30 years, of the School of Music of Fiesole. In September 2008 she was awarded the prestigious Praemium Imperiale Grant for Young Artists by the Japan Art Association." She is supported by the Region of Tuscany, Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, as well as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism; Compagnia di San Paolo provides to scholarships to competition for first parts. Since 2008, Artistic Director of OGI has been Andrea Lucchesini.