Federico Santi​

​Federico Santi is an internationally active Italian conductor, currently serving as Associate Conductor of the Opéra Grand Avignon (2024/25–2026/27), Guest Conductor at the Mariinsky Theatre, and Opera Coordinator at the Conservatorium Maastricht, where he teaches conducting and orchestral studies.

“His precise and sensitive approach to each of the musical pieces, his openness to different repertoires, his humble attitude towards the scores and his collaborators, and his leadership of the orchestra and the distribution of singers are exceptional qualities to which I wish to pay tribute with this designation”.

— Frédéric Roels, General Director of Opéra Grand Avignon.

He is the winner of the First Prize as well as the Special Prize of the Nice Opera at the 4th Mancinelli International Competition for conductors in Orvieto.

He directly conducted at Concertgebouw Amsterdam (concert version of Manon Lescaut), the Theater Bunkakaican in Tokyo (La Traviata) and the Opera Bellas Artes in Mexico City (Il trovatore). At the same time, he also started a long-term collaboration with the Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg, conducting there an extensive italian repertoire including Lucia di Lammermoor, Lucrezia Borgia, Anna Bolena, La favorita, Linda di Chamounix, Gemma di Vergy, La sonnambula, Il Pirata, Beatrice di Tenda as well as I Capuleti e i Montecchi in the frame of the prestigious Festival “Stars of the White Nights”.

Federico Santi has more than 50 operas in his repertoire. He has collaborated with the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (I Capuleti e Montecchi, Il barbiere di Siviglia, also for an important Japan tour including performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia in *Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama and Fukuoka), the Rouen Opera (Viva la mamma, Die Entführung aus dem Serail), the Montpellier Opera (Chabriers Une éducation manquée and Poulenc’s La voix humain), the Opéra Grand Avignon (Peter Grimes, La Traviata, La Bohème, Tosca, Turandot and Howard Moody’s Les Rêveurs de la lune), the Opéra Royal de Wallonie de Liège (La bohème and the world premiere of Daniel Schell’s Le sabotage amoureux), the Forest National in Bruxelles (Nabucco), the Festival of Alden Biesen (Il barbiere di Siviglia, Manon Lescaut, Gianni Schicchi and Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe), the Teatro del Bicentenario in León, Mexico (Madama Butterfly), the Ente Luglio Musicale Trapanese (Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci), the Ente Concerti Marialisa de Carolis in Sassari (Strauss Salome, Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze), the Festival of Alexandria (Don Carlo), the National Opera of Timisoara (Le nozze di Figaro, Tosca), the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre in Moscow (L’Elisir d’amore).

Recent and upcoming collaborations of symphonic repertoire are with Orchestre National Montpellier, Rouen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National Avignon-Provence, Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Bashkir, Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Ente Concerti Marialisa De Carolis, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana.

He has played with soloists such as Norbert Brainin, Nicolas Chumachenco, Aldo Ciccolini, Kristóf Baráti, Alexander Tomescu, Emmanuel Pahud, Albrecht Mayer, Kyoko Yonemoto…

Federico is currently opera coordinator at the Maastricht Conservatory, where he teaches conducting and orchestral studies.

Positions:

• Musical director Teatro Alfa Torino (1993–2004)

• Musical director Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro San Giuseppe Torino (1995–2001)

• Resident choirmaster Coro di Torino (1995–2005)

• Pianist of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra (1998–2004)

• Singers’ coach and professor Maestri Collaboratori al Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto (1999–2005)

• Pianist of the Sassari Theater (1999–2001)

• Choirmaster Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova (2000–2002)

• Musical director Theaters Modena e Ferrara (2001–2002)

• Maestro Collaboratore Maestro Teatro Regio of Turin (2003–2005)

• Musical director Festival of Alden Biesen (2010–2012)

• Permanent musical director Accademia Orstäin, Orchestra Stabile Allievi Insegnanti, Torino (2015–2016)

• Founder and Artistic director Maastricht Chamber Orchestra (from 2015)

• Guest conductor, repertory and casting consultant at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg (from 2017)

• Opera coordinator Maastricht Conservatory (from 2022)

• Associated conductor Opéra Grand Avignon (2024/25–2026/27)

Assistant conductor to:

• Yuri Ahronovtich (Musica Riva Festival)

• Valery Gergiev (Mariinsky Theater)

• Isaac Karabtchevsky (Musica Riva Festival)

• Dietfried Bernet (Opéra National du Rhin)

• Carlo Rizzi (Opéra National du Rhin)

• Alberto Zedda (Opéra Royal de Wallonie)

• Bruno Campanella (Teatro Regio di Torino)

• Paolo Arrivabeni (Torino)

Awards:

• 2006 first prize audition with the Orchestre Nationale d’île de France

• 2008 first prize and special prize of the Opéra de Nice to the Orvieto IV International Competition for opera conductors

Studies:

• Composition: Alessandro Ruoi Rui (Torino), K. Stockhausen (Köln).

• Orchestra conduction: Fulvio Vernizzi (Torino), Gilberto Serembe (Accademia Musicale Pescarese), Yuri Ahronovitch, Isaac Karabtchevsky, Vladimir Ponkin (Lipsia), Ennio Nicotra (Peter the Great Music Academy of Sant Pietersburg).

• Pianoforte: Wally Peroni (Torino), Jorg Demus, Paul Badura-Skoda.

• Chamber music: Claudio Voghera, Franco Gulli–Enrica Cavallo.

• Harpsichord: Emilia Fadini, Walter Kolneder.