The Fondazione Teatro Donizetti announces with profound sorrow the passing of Maestro Antonino Fogliani, the conductor who was due to lead the Donizetti Opera Orchestra in L’esule di Roma, the opening production of the 2026 edition of the Donizetti Opera Festival.
“Antonino was, before anything else, a colleague and a friend, as well as an outstanding conductor,” says Artistic and Music Director Riccardo Frizza. “Our friendship went back many years, to the time we spent studying at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena under Gianluigi Gelmetti. Those formative years, during which we shared so much, profoundly shaped the way we both came to understand this profession. I will remember Antonino for his rare musical sensitivity, for the rigour and generosity with which he always placed himself at the service of every score he conducted, and for the enthusiasm with which he had accepted the invitation to make his Donizetti Opera debut this year. He will be deeply missed, both as an artist and as a person, and our thoughts are now with his wife Angelica and his son Lorenzo.”
Born in Messina in 1976, Antonino Fogliani graduated in Conducting from the “Giuseppe Verdi” Conservatoire in Milan before continuing his studies at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena with Gianluigi Gelmetti. Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein since 2017 and Music Director of the Rossini in Wildbad Festival since 2012, he quickly established himself on the international stage as one of the most highly regarded musicians of his generation. Following his acclaimed debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in 2001 with Il viaggio a Reims, he appeared at many of the world’s leading opera houses and with distinguished orchestras, including the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen.
He held a degree in Music Studies from the University of Bologna and graduated in Piano from the Conservatoire of Bologna and in Conducting from the Conservatoire of Milan. He furthered his studies at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena with Franco Donatoni and Ennio Morricone. His encounter with Gianluigi Gelmetti in 1997 proved to be a decisive turning point in his artistic career.
He was Professor of Conducting at the “Alessandro Scarlatti” Conservatoire in Palermo. In 2018, President Sergio Mattarella awarded him the honour of Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
