The board of directors of the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, chaired by Giorgio Berta and composed of Emilio Bellingardi, Enrico Fusi, Elisabetta Ricchiuti, Roberta Sestini, Giovanni Thiella, and Alessandro Valoti, met today in Bergamo. On the agenda was the appointment of the new artistic director of the Donizetti Opera festival following Francesco Micheli’s unavailability for renewal. The board unanimously appointed conductor Riccardo Frizza – musical director of the same festival since 2017 – as the new head of the opera festival dedicated to the Bergamo composer for the next three years.
«It is a thoughtful and shared choice – declares President Berta – based on the history and successes of the festival, two indispensable values that see in the appointment of the Brescia maestro an element of continuity and continuous investment in the “cultural heritage” built over these ten years. I therefore renew my thanks to the outgoing director Micheli and congratulate Frizza on behalf of the entire Foundation, confident that he will further enhance the legacy of the Donizetti Opera».
«I am honored to take on the artistic direction of the Donizetti Opera – underlines Riccardo Frizza. The last eight years as musical director of the festival have been an extraordinary experience, made possible by the trust of the entire Foundation – from the stage, to the offices, to the scientific section – as well as by a fruitful collaboration with Francesco Micheli, to whom I extend my thanks for marking a significant period for the city and its festival. Today, in the dual role of artistic and musical director, I embrace this new challenge with enthusiasm, aiming to project the Donizetti Opera into an increasingly broad international dimension. To achieve this, I am certain I can count on the renewed support of all those who have accompanied my activity as musical director over these years». A press conference will be convened shortly to outline the new artistic and musical direction guidelines. Riccardo Frizza (Brescia, 1971), musical director of the Donizetti Opera in Bergamo since 2017, is among the most acclaimed conductors of his generation, a regular guest at national and international theaters and festivals such as the Opéra de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolitan Opera of New York, Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Real, Rossini Opera Festival, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Festival Verdi di Parma, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden.
Among the commitments of recent years stand out the 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 inaugurations of the Donizetti Opera festival with L’elisir d’amore, La favorite (Abbiati Award for Best Show of the Year), Il diluvio universale e Roberto Devereux, the Homage to Caruso with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, La clemenza di Tito at the Bilbao Opera, Le tre regine at the Teatro San Carlo, L’amico Fritz at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, Il barbiere di Siviglia and Maria Stuarda at the Teatro San Carlo, Simon Boccanegra and Attila at the Festival Verdi of the Regio di Parma. The latest recordings are marked by Donizetti: the CD Le tre regine with Sondra Radvanovsky recorded in Chicago and Signor Gaetano with Javier Camarena and the festival orchestra Gli Originali, as well as an album with Nadine Sierra for Deutsche Grammophon and Delirio with Jessica Pratt. In June 2021, he won the Ópera XXI Award for Best Musical Director, an accolade awarded by the association of theaters, festivals, and stable seasons of Spain, for the excellence of Lucia di Lammermoor staged at ABAO Bilbao Ópera in October 2019. In March 2022, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir. On June 2, 2024, he was named Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, by decree of the President of the Republic, for his merits towards the Nation in the field of art.
