AMERICAN LYRIC SINGING COMPETITION
ELIO ORCIUOLO, MUSIC DIRECTOR
He studied piano, composition and orchestra conducting with teachers M. Gusella, D. Renzetti. G. Serembe, N. Samale and choir conducting with R. Gandolfi, where he was also an assistant from 1995 to 1998. Later he attended a Master Class in orchestra conducting with I. Gilliam at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and from 2000 to 2001 he was associate director of M. Anton Guadagno.
Since 1988 he has been directing opera, working with the Petruzzelli theater in Bari, a theater in which all his training and artistic growth took place. Working with highly experienced artists and musicians, it covers the entire traditional operatic repertoire. Among the symphonic-choral works performed by Maestro Orciuolo, it is worth mentioning Verdi's "Requiem", organized by Raidue and Nippon TV, broadcast live throughout the world and performed in the Vatican on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was artistic advisor to the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari from 1996 to 1998 and from 2004 to 2006.
In October 2000, he began his activity as opera director with the invitation as associate conductor of Mº A. Guadagno at the Palm Beach Opera in Florida. He works permanently with the Catalan opera as main director, where he has directed acclaimed productions, among which stand out: "Rigoletto", "L'Italiana in Algeri", "La forza del Destino", "Nabucco", "Tosca" , “Norma”, “Macbeth”, “La Traviata”, “Madama Butterfly”, “Trovatore”, “Carmen”, as well as a concert production of “Don Carlo”, held at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona with the singing school of the tenor Jaime Aragall.
In 2004 he began the fruitful direction with the Cairo Opera House until January 2012 directing "Un Ballo in Maschera" and in December of the same year he made an acclaimed production of "Aida" at the Pyramides of Giza and Elisir d'amore
In June 2005 he made his debut in Portugal directing Donizetti's “La fille du Regiment” at the Rota Festival, a production associated with the Sao Carlo theater in Lisbon, and Guiseppe Verdi's “Otello” in Taiwan. From 2008 to 2009 he participated in the Verdi master class of the YSMF in New York, directing “Ernani” and the “Missa da Requiem” by Giuseppe Verdi.
In 2012 he began with the production of "La Boheme" and "Aida" respectively at the Cairo Opera House and with the Opera de Catalunya. In July 2012 he directed “La Traviata” by Guiseppe Verdi, an opera that premiered at the Trani Opera Festival. In April 2013 he directed the world premiere at the Teatro Verdi di Pisa of the opera “Falcone e Borsellino” by Antonio Fortunato.
On October 30, 2013, he directed Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" at the Anayancy Theater in Panama for the Fundación Opera Panamá. In 2014 he premiered "Nabucco" at the National Theater of San José in Costa Rica. In the same year he premiered the Opera “Andrea Chenier” at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa. In March 2015, he founded the Italo-Panamanian Youth Orchestra within the framework of the collaboration agreement between the two governments. He is a professor of operatic repertoire at the Aimart Academy in Rome and at the Opera Studio project “Io Debutto” in Salerno. Since 1992 he has been a Professor at the “Nino Rota” Conservatory of Music in Monopoli where he is the curator of the Mozart-Da Ponte International Project in collaboration with the “Esmuc” Conservatory in Barcelona. Since 2012 he is the Artistic Director of the Italian Opera Festival in Trani. The year 2015 marks his great debut as director of the opera "Pagliacci" in Japan, Kyoto and in 2016 he performs in South Korea directing several concerts within the framework of the Korea International Music Festival.
In 2017, he continues his intense concert activity with the Italo-Panamanian Youth Orchestra and a concert on the occasion of the European Festival in Florence, Italy, with the Erasmus Youth Orchestra, of which he is artistic and musical director.