Born in Turin where he studied composition, orchestra conducting, piano and chamber music, Federico Santi’s international career started in 2008 when he was awarded the First Prize as well as the Special Prize of the Nice Opera at the 4th International Competition for conductors in Orvieto.
This first major success as a conductor opened the door to the 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”.
Meanwhile 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 and Howard Moody's Les Rêveurs de la lune), the Opéra Royal de Wallonie (La Bohème and the world premiere of Daniel Schell’s Le sabotage amoureux, based on a novel by Amélie Nothomb), 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 (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).
He also dedicates himself to the study and deepening of a vast symphonic repertoire, conducting numerous lyric and symphonic concerts, from Haydn to contemporary composers, with a particular attention to German, Russian and French romanticism and post-romanticism. He also regularly conducts recitals and concerts in collaboration with the soprano Barbara Haveman.
In addition, Federico Santi is Opera Coordinator and teaches Conducting and Orchestral studies at the Conservatory of Maastricht.
September 2023
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