Guest ArtistsSperanza Scappucci, conductor

Italian born Speranza Scappucci, a graduate of the Juilliard School and the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia in Rome, is an internationally known conductor who works regularly at major opera houses including the houses in Vienna, Rome, Barcelona, Zürich, Los Angeles and New York. Since 2017 she holds the position of Principal Guest Conductor at the Royal Opéra de Wallonie in Liège and is considered one of the most interesting conductors of her generation on the international scene.

Upcoming engagements of the season 2018-19 include La bohème at Zurich Opera House as well as L´elisir d´amore, La Cenerentola and La bohème at Vienna State Opera. As Principal Conductor she will lead Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Aïda and I puritani at Opéra Royal de Wallonie. At Théâtre des Champs-Élysées she will conduct Maria Stuarda and will return to Washington National Opera for a production of Tosca. At the end of the season she will give her debut at Semperoper Dresden with Puccini’s La bohème. In addition, she will lead symphonic concerts at Luzern, Lausanne, San Diego and Vienna.

Recently she conducted La sonnambula at the Opera di Roma, Le nozze di figaro in Turin as well as Attila at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona. During the Hollywood Bowl season, she gave her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonics. At Opéra Liège she conducted a new production of Verdi’s Jerusalem, as well as Manon Lescaut and Carmen. She debuted at Zurich Opera with La fille du regiment and conducted Il turco in Italia at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. She has also led concert performances of La sonnambula at Lincoln Center in a MET Lindemann/Juilliard School production, La bohème at the Los Angeles Opera, La cenerentola at the Washington Opera and Teatro Regio Torino, a new production of La fille du regiment at Santa Fe Opera and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Orchestra Regionale della Toscana in Florence. She had great success conducting Don Pasquale at Vienna State Opera; furthermore, she conducted symphonic concerts with the Holland Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, a Gala Concert at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and symphonic programs with the Orchestra Toscanini in Parma and Orchestra Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

In November 2013 Speranza Scappucci’s first CD recording was released on Warner Classics: Mozart arias with Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; 2016 saw the release of a CD recording of the Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu for Opus Arte with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.