We are delighted to announce that Giulio Cilona will return to the Opéra national de Lorraine Orchestra as First Guest Conductor from the 2024-2025 season.
Revealed at the 2022 International Opera Conducting Competition at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, the young Belgian-American conductor is also a pianist and composer. Currently Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, he has conducted La Bohème, Turandot, La Gioconda, Il Viaggio a Reims, The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute and a new production of Puccini's Trittico, for which he replaced Sir Donald Runnicles at short notice. Next season, he will conduct Der fliegende Holländer, Turandot, Rigoletto, La Traviata and Carmen, among others.
Other highlights of the 2024-2025 season include Giulio Cilona conducting Così fan tutte at the Norwegian Opera and Ballet, Nabucco at the Cologne Opera and Die Zauberflöte at the Semperoper Dresden. On the symphonic front, he will be making his debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rossini Opera Festival and the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse.
In Nancy, Giulio Cilona made his debut at the Opéra national de Lorraine in a memorable production of Don Pasquale last December. A desire shared by the musicians of the Orchestra and the general and artistic management of the Opéra national de Lorraine led us to entrust him with the position of First Guest Conductor for the 2024-2025 season. He will return to the Orchestra for La Cenerentola (stage direction by Fabrice Murgia) from 13 to 22 December 2024 at the Opéra, and will conduct Mahler's Fifth on 21 and 22 November 2024 at the Salle Poirel.
