Distinguished Italian conductor Antonino Fogliani has died aged 50.

Born in Messina in 1976, Antonino Fogliani graduated as a pianist before studying conducting at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, going on to work with Franco Donatoni and Ennio Morricone at the Accademia Chigiana and serving as assistant to Gianluigi Gelmetti.

His acclaimed debut at the Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival in 2001 was followed by engagements in major opera houses including Teatro La Fenice, Teatro dell’Opera, Teatro di San Carlo, the Opéra Comique and Teatro alla Scala. International engagements took him to such centres as Monte Carlo, Moscow, Houston and Barcelona.

He conducted countless performances for Deutsche Oper am Rhein and at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, including Macbeth and Il trovatore for the Opernfestspiele. He made his debut at Rossini in Wildbad in 2004 and was appointed music director in 2011.

His love for Italian repertoire is reflected in his extensive presence in the Naxos catalogue; two further albums, already recorded and set for future release, will serve as a poignant reminder of the artistic force he represented, which we have now lost, and which was signalled a decade ago by Gramophone:

“This is the best recording we have yet heard of Ermione … The conductor Antonino Fogliani holds the whole drama powerfully on course.”

Antonino Fogliani Biography & Discography