Within a short time, Damiano Michieletto has emerged on the international scene as one of the most interesting representatives of the young generation of Italian directors. He studied opera and theater production at Milan's Paolo Grassi School of Dramatic Art and graduated in modern literature from the University of Venice, his hometown.

His critically acclaimed production of Švanda the Piper by Jaromír Weinberger at the 2003 Wexford Festival won the Irish Times ESB Theatre Award. His other opera productions include L' Italiana in Algeri at Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, La gazza ladra in a co-production of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro with the theaters of Bologna and Verona (the production won the Franco Abbiati Prize in 2008), Lucia di Lammermoor, Il Corsaro, Luisa Miller and Poliuto to Zurich, Roméo et Juliette and a Mozart/from Ponte cycle at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Die Entführung aus dem Serail at San Carlo in Naples, La scala di seta at Rossini Opera Festival and Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Grand Théâtre de Genève, Madama Butterfly to Turin, L'elisir d'amore to Valencia, Graz and Madrid, Martinů's The Greek Passion to Palermo, Così fan tutte at New National Theatre in Tokyo, Trittico at Theater an der Wien and Royal Opera Copenhagen, Un ballo in maschera at Teatro alla Scala, Idomeneo at Theater an der Wien and The Rake's Progress at Opernhaus Leipzig and La Fenice in Venice.

He made his Salzburg Festival debut with La Bohème in 2012 and returned there for Falstaff in 2013 and La cenerentola in 2014. The 2014/15 season includes Il viaggio to Reims at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam and Guillaume Tell at the Royal Opera House in London.

Engagements for the 2015/2016 season include new productions of Mozart's The Magic Flute at La Fenice in Venice, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at London's Covent Garden (Olivier Award 2016), and Rossini's Otello to Vienna; a debut at the Komische Oper in Berlin with Massenet's Cendrillon; and a return to the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro with a new production of La donna del lago.

In 2016 and 2017 he was busy with new productions of Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila at the Paris Opéra, Perocco's Aquagranda at La Fenice in Venice (2017 Abbiati Prize), Falstaff at La Scala in Milan, Die Zauberflöte atOpera in Florence, Idomeneo for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino to Pistoia, Rigoletto atOpera in Amsterdam, and La damnation de Faust for the opening ofOpera in Rome (Abbiati Prize 2018).

During the course of 2018, the director is busy making his debut at the Bol'šoj Theater in Moscow with Il viaggio to Reims and with four new productions: Lehár's Die Lustige Witwe at Fenice in Venice, to Britten's Midsummer night's dream at Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Donizetti's Don Pasquale at Palais Garnier - Opéra de Paris, and Verdi's Macbeth to Venice (season opener).

Recent appointments include: new productions of Schreker's Der Ferne Klang to Frankfurt and Händel's Alcina at the Salzburg Festival (Pentecost and summer festival), filming of La Scala di seta at the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Don Pasquale to Paris and to London, Die Lustige Witwe to Rome, Il viaggio to Reims to Melbourne and Sydney, Luisa Miller and Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci to Barcelona; as well as new productions of Rigoletto staged at the Circus Maximus - from which spawned a project for the big screen produced from Indigo Film with the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome - and Berlioz' Béatrice et Bénédict atOpera in Lyon. Among his 2021 engagements: New stagings of two Janáček operas, namely Jenůfa to debut at the Berlin Staatsoper and Kát'to Kabanová at the Glyndebourne Festival, and of Strauss, Salome at Teatro alla Scala in Milan (broadcast on Rai5) and Der Rosenkavalier to Vilnius, joined by a film on Puccini's Gianni Schicchi for Genoma Films, Rigoletto at La Fenice in Venice (the production won the Franco Abbiati Prize in 2022) and La cenerentola at the Semperoper in Dresden. In 2022, he staged the Italian premiere of Béatrice et Bénédict for the season opening of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and several new productions: Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Komische Oper in Berlin, Battistelli's Le baruffe at Teatro La Fenice (with libretto by Michieletto), Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and the Italian premiere of Mass, a Bernstein theater piece, at the Terme di Caracalla to Rome. In addition, he presented "Archèus. Labyrinth Mozart," a multidisciplinary immersive installation created for the Venice Biennale, celebrating the 1600th anniversary of the lagoon city.

In 2023 he stages at De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam the world premiere of Animal Farm based on George Orwell's famous novel of the same name and composed from Alexander Raskatov and two new productions: Les Contes d'Hoffmann at the Sydney Opera House and Aida marking his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper. In 2024 he will be engaged in new productions at La Scala Cherubini's Médée, at the Royal Opera House Carmen and atOpera Paris Massenet's Don Quichotte.

In addition to his intense activity in opera theater, Damiano Michieletto is also very active in prose theater, equally important in his artistic career. He staged a highly original and much-appreciated edition of Goldoni's Il Ventaglio to which was followed by Gogol's L'Ispettore generale with the Teatro Stabile del Veneto, in a corrosive and engaging vision, Ramón María del Valle-Inclán's Divinas palabras for the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, a fundamental and visionary text of 20th-century Spanish theater, the new production of L'Opera from three soldi by Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, and Čechov's one-acts The Marriage Question/The Bear with Teatro Stabile del Veneto at Teatro Goldoni in Venice (broadcast on Rai5).

An Italian with a strong affinity for the German repertoire. A "natural melodist" (Der Tagesspiegel) who excels at transferring the complexity of his interpretations to the large orchestral ensemble. Manacorda is a true artist who blends pure creative force with a particularly collaborative performing style. His versatility as a conductor is rooted in the richness of his musical and cultural background: born to Turin from an Italian-French family, educated in Amsterdam and from longtime resident to Berlin, Manacorda was a founding member and longtime concertmaster of Claudio Abbado's Mahler Chamber Ochestra before studying under legendary Finnish conductor Jorma Panula. Today Antonello Manacorda performs in the world's most renowned theaters d'opera and at the helm of internationally renowned symphony orchestras. Central to his work is the Kammerakademie Potsdam, an ensemble he has shaped as artistic director since 2010 and with which he has produced a series of award-winning recordings. In the 2023/24 season, operatic productions bring Antonello Manacorda toOpera in Vienna (La traviata), Teatro La Fenice (Les Contes d'Hoffman), Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Carmen), andOpera State Stuttgart (Il trovatore). Highlights of his symphonic calendar in the 2023/24 season include guest appearances with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and SWR Symphony Orchestra, among others. Past seasons have featured from collaborations with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra ofAccademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. His debuts at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (The Marriage of Figaro), a new production of Dmitri Tcherniakov's Der Freischütz at the Bavarian StateOpera and his debut at the Semperoper in Dresden-also with Der Freischütz-were great successes. With the Kammerakademie Potsdam Manacorda recorded a Mendelssohn cycle and a Schubert cycle for Sony Classical, gaining the greatest acclaim from from the press. For recording all of Schubert's symphonies, the ensemble was awarded the 2015 ECHO Klassik in the "Orchestra of the Year" category. In October 2022, Manacorda and the Kammerakademie Potsdam were awarded the OPUS KLASSIK in the same category for their recording of Mozart's last symphonies, also for Sony Classical. The same month saw the release of the ensemble's latest recording with Antonello Manacorda - Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 and 7 - marking the beginning of a complete recording of all of Beethoven's symphonies, which from have long played a central role in the Kammerakademie Potsdam concerts.

Described by the "Times" as a "baroque star," a leading artist and tireless promoter of Baroque culture, countertenor Raffaele Pe embraces a vast musical repertoire ranging from Recitar cantando toopera contemporary.

In 2019 he was awarded the Abbiati Prize of the Italian Music Critics for Best Record with Giulio Cesare. to Baroque Hero. The CD, which was voted by "The Times" and from "Die Welt" one of the best recording projects of 2018, features arias dedicated to Julius Caesar in premiere or first performance in modern times.

Raffaele Pe collaborates with leading conductors and directors such as Jordi Savall, John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, René Jacobs, Giovanni Antonini, Graham Vick, Claus Guth, Pierluigi Pizzi, and Damiano Michieletto.

In 2015 he founded La Lira di Orfeo, a collective of musicians, artists and researchers with whom he has made five recordings and often directs.

Regarded today as one of Händel's finest interpreters, he has performed iconic roles from most of his operas such as Julius Caesar, Rinaldo, Orlando, Xerxes, Nero, Arbace, Aci, Disinganno, and is hosted from major institutions such as the Teatro alla Scala the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Theater an der Wien, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Opéra National du Rhin, The Grange Festival, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

He has also devoted himself to the music of Monteverdi, Cavalli and lesser-known composers of the late seventeenth century, whose works he has often premiered in modern times. These include Cavalli's Hipermestra at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Melani's Empio Punito and Marazzoli's Amore Malato at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa, as well as Cavalli's Veremonda at the Spoleto Festival US.  

from always combines intense theatrical activity with concert appearances in some of the most important international halls and symphonic institutions such as the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Philharmonie in Paris, the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, theAccademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia to Rome and the Wigmore Hall in London.

Lebanese pianist, composer and figurative artist Zad Moultaka composedopera Hémon specifically for its vocal characteristics. The new creation - based on Sophocles' Antigone - debuted at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg to March 2021 with Raffaele Pe engaged first in the baritone register and then in the sopranile register.