From: Varese, Italy
Appearances at The Dallas Opera
Tosca (2015/2016, debut)
Pelleas and Melisande (2024/2025)
Carmen (2025/2026)
Dialogues of the Carmelites (2025/2026)
The Little Prince (2025/2026, mainstage conducting debut)
Don Carlo (2025/2026)
The Elixir of Love (2026/2027)
The Cunning Little Vixen (2026/2027)
Turandot (2026/2027)
Lohengrin (2026/2027)
Internationally acclaimed conductor Paolo Bressan is a committed musician, educator, and vocal coach. He cofounded the LacMus International Music Festival at Lake Como, Italy (2017-current), and is The Dallas Opera’s Chorus Director and Head of Music (2024-current). He has worked as an assistant with conductors like Christian Thielemann, Emmanuel Villaume, and Valery Gergiev. Bressan studied orchestral and choral conducting, piano, vocal coaching, and composition at the “Giuseppe Verdi” Conservatory of Music in Milan, Italy, and at the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar, Germany, and he studied piano with celebrated Canadian pianist Louis Lortie. After launching his career in 2007 at Mecklenburgische Staatstheater in Schwerin, Germany, Bressan has worked worldwide, including at Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre. He has worked with Spanish National Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, and the PKF – Prague Philharmonia. In addition to his chorus director duties, he made his US conducting debut in TDO’s production of The Little Prince during the 2025/2026 season.