Symphony Concert N° 5

Daniele Gatti

Daniele Gatti has been Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden since the 2024/2025 season. He made his debut with the orchestra in February 2000 at the invitation of the then Principal Conductor, Giuseppe Sinopoli, with a programme featuring works by Mendelssohn, Hindemith and Brahms. Over the following years, the Italian maestro returned several times to Dresden. Gatti’s mastery of the Staatskapelle’s core repertoire, his visionary interpretations and keen sense of the sound and unique traditions of this historic ensemble are an assurance of outstanding concert experiences. In his second season, he continues the Staatskapelle’s first complete Mahler cycle with the »Vienna Years«. 

In addition to his post in Dresden, Daniele Gatti is also Chief Conductor of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Music Director of the Orchestra Mozart and, since 2016, Artistic Advisor to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In the same year, he took up a teaching post at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena.

Born in Milan in 1961, Gatti studied composition and orchestra conducting at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in his home city. He made his debut at La Scala at the age of 27. This was followed by permanent engagements with leading music institutions such as the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, London’s Royal Opera House, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. He was subsequently Principal Conductor of the Orchestre National de France (2008-2016), the Zurich Opera House (2009-2012) and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam (2016-2018), as well as Music Director of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma until 2022. Gatti is also a popular guest conductor, appearing for example with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala.

Equally in demand in the field of opera, Daniele Gatti has conducted major new productions such as Robert Carsen’s staging of »Falstaff« in London, Milan and Amsterdam, »Parsifal«, staged by Stefan Herheim, which opened the Bayreuth Festival in 2008, as well as a production of the same opera by François Girard at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and four operas at the Salzburg Festival: Richard Strauss’s »Elektra«, Puccini’s »La bohème«, Wagner’s »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg« and Verdi’s »Il trovatore«. 

In 2008, he conducted »Don Carlo« to open the new season at Milan’s La Scala as well as »Lohengrin«, »Lulu«, »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg«, »Falstaff« and »Wozzeck«. As part of Verdi’s birthday celebrations in 2013, he conducted »La traviata«, again launching the new season at La Scala.

He has opened several seasons of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma with works such as Wagner’s »Tristan und Isolde«, Berlioz’s »La damnation de Faust«, Verdi’s »Rigoletto« and »Les vêpres siciliennes«, Rossini’s »Il barbiere di Siviglia« and the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s »Julius Caesar«. In 2023, he conducted Verdi’s »Falstaff« and all of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies as part of the 85th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival. 

In 2024, he conducted the opening concerts of the new seasons of both the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Vienna Philharmonic before going on tour with both ensembles through Europe’s music capitals. In summer 2025, he will return to the Bayreuth Festival for the new production of »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg«.

Daniele Gatti’s extensive discography testifies to his broad repertoire. For Sony Classical, he has recorded works by Debussy and Stravinsky with the Orchestre National de France as well as a DVD of Wagner’s »Parsifal«, performed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. As part of the »RCO Live« series, he conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in recordings of Berlioz’s »Symphonie fantastique«, several Mahler symphonies, a DVD of Stravinsky’s »Le sacre du printemps« also featuring Debussy’s »Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune« and »La mer«, a DVD of Strauss’s »Salome« at the Dutch National Opera and a CD of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 paired with the Prelude and »Karfreitagszauber« from Wagner’s »Parsifal«. In 2019, C-Major released a DVD of Wagner’s »Tristan und Isolde« under the baton of Daniele Gatti, staged at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.

Daniele Gatti is a three-time winner of the »Franco Abbiati« Prize as Best Conductor, chosen by Italy’s music critics, and in 2016 was named Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French Republic for his work as Music Director of the Orchestre National de France. He also holds the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.