From: Varese, Italy
“An ecstatic and talented showman who propelled the responsive orchestra through a churning sea of emotions,” Italian conductor Paolo Bressan is a committed musician and educator, as well as co-founder and general and artistic director of the LacMus International Music Festival at Lake Como, Italy (2017-current). In addition to his long tenure at The Dallas Opera (2015-current) as an associate conductor, this season he will conduct the family performances of Pépito and the National Vocal Competition, and served as assistant conductor to Emmanuel Villaume for Tosca, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Elektra, and the People’s Choice Concert. He is also a master teacher at the Hart Institute for Women Conductor.
Paolo Bressan has led opera productions in Karlsruhe (Die Zauberflöte, 2011), Vendome (Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, 2006-2007), Rijeka (Romeo et Juliet in 2019, Cavalleria Rusticana in 2021), St. Petersburg (I Pagliacci, Leoncavallo; Gianni Schicchi, Puccini; Elisir d’amore; Donizetti; Così fan tutte, Mozart, 2019-2020), Vladivostok (I Pagliacci, 2021), Flensburg (Die Freischütz, 2012), and Schwerin (where he led a wide variety of repertoire during his tenure from 2007-2015). In addition, Bressan has also worked as assistant conductor with Christian Thielemann (2015 Salzburg Easter Festival for Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci), Emmanuel Villaume, Daniele Gatti and Valery Gergiev (2019 Salzburger Festspiele for Simon Boccanegra). He has conducted worldwide, from a critically acclaimed debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus (2015-Brno Philharmonic with Joseph Calleja), the Théatre-des-Champs-Elysée in Paris (2016-PFK Philharmonia Prague with Bryan Hymel), and the National Auditorium of Mexico City (2016-Orchestra of Mineria with Javier Camarena).