Michael Recchiuti

Michael Recchiuti, Conductor, is active internationally as conductor of operatic and symphonic repertory, and as a pianist and accompanist. Currently he holds the position of Music Director of Opera de las Americas, the recently formed national opera of the Dominican Republic.

A native Philadelphian, he pursued studies in piano, cello, orchestral and choral conducting at the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts.While living in Philadelphia he served as Assistant Conductor of both the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, and the Philadephia Singers . He was awarded a graduate scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music, where he received a Master of Music degree in piano accompaniment.

His conducting studies took him to the Aspen Music Festival as Fellowship Conductor, and later as Music Director of the Vocal Institute. He was then accepted into Italy's prestigious Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Where for two seasons he studied with Franco Ferrara, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Bruno Bartoletti. In 1986 he was awarded the Diploma di Merito in Direzione della Lirica, and was chosen to conduct public performances of Bellini's Beatice di Tenda with the soprano Cecilia Gasdia.

In Italy, he was engaged as head of the musical staff at Venice's Teatro La Fenice, and as Consulente Musicale at the Ente Lirico in Cagliari, Sardegna, where he helped prepare the first full performance of Rossini's Guillaume Tell ever presented in Italy. He also appeared as accompanist to some of Europe's leading singers in recitals at Parma's Teatro Regio, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, and for the RAI. In 1990 he conducted the Budapest Philharmonic during the Budapest Spring Festival.

In America, as Associate Conductor of the New Jersey State Opera, he prepared and conducted important revivals of Mascagni's Lodoletta, Iris, and Zanetto, and Puccini's Le Villi. With the Opera Ensemble of New York, where he was Music Director for two seasons, he performed a wide range of repertory, from Gluck's Orfeo, to a revival of Robert Wardis The Crucible prepared under the supervision of the composer. For the Long Beach Opera he conducted critically acclaimed productions of Puccini's La Rondine, and a double bill of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, and Massenet's La Navarraise. For Dicapo Theatre Maestro Recchiuti has conducted Il Tabarro, L'elisir D'amore and Norma all to great critical acclaim. He was invited by the Orchestra of St. Luke's to conduct Haydn's Lo Speziale at New York's Town Hall. He also conducted the Korean Symphony of New York, and the Musician's Emergency Fund Gala, both at Lincoln Center.

His 1987 recording on the Bongiovanni label conducting the Orchestra di Camera di Padova e del Veneto in bel canto arias with the tenor Chris Merritt was chosen as "Best of the Year" by the editors of Opera News, Opera International, and CD Classica magazines. As pianist, he collaborated with the young American tenor Paul Austen Kelly on a disc of English art songs by Benjamin Britten and Roger Quilter recently released internationally by GM Records.

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