Antonio Pappano

Sir Antonio Pappano has been Music Director of The Royal Opera since 2002. He was Music Director of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome from 2005 to 2023 and has held previous titles with Norwegian Opera, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2023 he became Chief Conductor Designate of the London Symphony Orchestra, and takes the full Chief Conductor title from the 2024/25 season.

Pappano appears as guest conductor with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, festivals and opera houses, including the Berlin and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the London, Chicago and Boston Symphonies, the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera New York and Teatro alla Scala Milan, the Salzburg and Verbier Festivals, and the BBC Proms. 

Pappano has been an exclusive recording artist for Warner Classics (formerly EMI Classics) since 1995. He has also developed a notable career as a speaker and presenter, and has fronted several critically-acclaimed BBC Television documentaries including ‘Opera Italia’, ‘Pappano’s Essential Ring Cycle’ and ‘Pappano’s Classical Voices’. As a pianist, he appears as an accompanist with singers including Joyce DiDonato, Diana Damrau, Gerald Finley, Matthias Goerne and Ian Bostridge.

His awards and honours include Gramophone’s ‘Artist of the Year’ in 2000, the 2003 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, the 2004 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award, and the Bruno Walter prize from the Académie du Disque Lyrique in Paris. In 2012 he was created a Cavaliere di Gran Croce of the Republic of Italy, and a Knight of the British Empire for his services to music, and in 2015 he was named the 100th recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal, the body’s highest honour. He became Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the New Year Honours 2024 for conducting the Coronation Orchestra, on the occasion of the Coronation of their Majesties the King and the Queen, and won the 2024 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

The position of Music Director of The Royal Opera is generously supported by Mrs Susan A. Olde.