Biography

Alessandro Bonato is principal conductor of Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento.

He collaborates with soloists such as Ettore Pagano, Leonora Armellini, Federico Colli, Mariangela Vacatello, Giuseppe Gibboni, Paolo Fresu, Enrico Dindo, Marco Rizzi, Paolo Carlini, Gennaro Cardaropoli, Massimo Quarta, Benedetto Lupo, Calogero Palermo, Miriam Prandi, Davide Cabassi, Danilo Rossi, Sergej Krylov, Mao Fujita, Arsenii Mun, Miyuji Kaneko, Olga Kern, Pavel Berman, Victor Julien-Laferrière, Xavier de Maistre, Stefan Milenkovich, Gülsin Oney, Aiman Mussakhajayeva, Kyoko Takezawa and Christoph Sietzen; orchestras including the Filarmonica della Scala, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento, the Filarmonica Toscanini, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, the Arena di Verona Orchestra, the Filarmonica del Festival pianistico internazionale di Brescia e Bergamo, the FORM-Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini, the Orchestra Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, the Orchestra Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the Orchestra Teatro Massimo di Palermo, the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, the ORT-Orchestra della Toscana, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the CRR Symphony Orchestra of Istanbul, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the South Denmark Philharmonic, the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra, the Wiener Concert-Verein, the Bursa State Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Juvenil Sinfonia por el Perù.

Among his most significant recent engagements, all met with unanimous acclaim from both audiences and critics, are L’elisir d’amore at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (2025, a co-production with the Haydn Foundation), Il barbiere di Siviglia in Trento (2025), at the Arena di Verona (2023), and at the Sferisterio in Macerata (2022); Norma for OperaLombardia (2022); Verdi’s Requiem as part of the summer season of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (2023) and with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra (2024); and his debut at the Musikverein in Vienna in 2022.

At just 25 years old, he became the youngest principal conductor of an Italian Concert-Orchestral Institution, serving with the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana during the 2021-22 biennium.

In opera repertoire, he collaborated with the Teatro of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (L’Elisir d’amore of Donizetti), the Sferisterio of Macerata (Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini), the theaters Grande of Brescia, Ponchielli of Cremona, Sociale of Como, Fraschini of Pavia and Verdi of Pisa (Norma by Bellini), the Teatro Sociale of Trento (Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini), the Teatro Filarmonico of Verona (Gianni Schicchi by Puccini, Il maestro di cappella by Cimarosa, Il matrimonio segreto by Cimarosa), the Teatro Lirico of Cagliari (La monacella della fontana by Mulè), the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (Petite messe solennelle, La cambiale di matrimonio and concerts), the Teatro Comunale of Bolzano (L’Elisir d’amore of Donizetti), the Arena of Verona (Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini), the Gran Teatro Nacional of Perù (La Bohème by Puccini), the Yerevan Opera Theatre (L’Elisir d’amore by Donizetti, Otello by Verdi) and the Royal Opera House in Muscat (Die Zauberflöte by Mozart, La cambiale di matrimonio by Rossini).

In 2018, the only Italian and youngest candidate admitted to the competition, he won the third absolute prize at the Nicolai Malko Competition for young conductors. His performance arouses unanimous approval: «Alessandro has the sort of technique we would associate with a far older maestro. This 23-year-old can apparently control the DNSO with nothing more than the tip of his baton. It’s not just a highly accomplished technique, it’s also a fascinating one. Alessandro’s two glaring eyes and the end of his stick form a piercing golden triangle that brings to mind the technical wizard Vladimir Jurowski. […] Alessandro has an intellect that allows him to plot complex structures carefully and clearly.» (Malko Competition “Time to deliver” by Andrew Mellor – april 2018)

Born in Verona on 22 March 1995, Alessandro Bonato began studying the violin at the age of 11 at the Conservatorio Dall’Abaco of Verona and, subsequently, he also devoted himself to viola, composition and counterpoint, later perfecting himself in baroque viola and viola da gamba with Stefano Marcocchi. He studied conducting with Pier Carlo Orizio, Donato Renzetti e Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, before making his official debut in 2013 on the podium of the Orchestra of the Conservatory of his city.