Daniele Gatti
Considered the ‘foremost conductor of his generation,’ Italian conductor Daniele Gatti has galvanized the music world with his dramatic and instinctive style. A charismatic maestro, he demonstrates an equal mastery of the orchestra and the opera stage, delivering consistently probing interpretations imbued with re and re ned sensitivity.

Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra since 1996, Gatti has inspired audiences and critics alike with his enraptured performances; his recordings have attracted enthusiastic notices. Since 1998, Gatti is also Music Director of Bologna’s opera house, the Teatro Comunale, and has con- ducted opera to great acclaim the world over.

A native of Milan, Daniele Gatti studied piano and violin at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, earning his degree in composition and conducting. Following his La Scala début at the age of 27, he led productions at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice, the Chicago Lyric Opera, Berlin Staatsoper and New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Maestro Gatti was Music Director of Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome from 1992 to 1997 as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1995 to 1997.

He made his Carnegie Hall début in the 1989/90 season with the American Symphony Orchestra, and has since led most of the world’s major orchestras. He has become a favourite of audiences in Chicago where he first conducted the Chicago Symphony in 1994, returning every other season since. Gatti’s 1996 début with the New York Philharmonic was hailed as a “remarkable performance” (The New York Times) and led to a triumphant return in 1998, 2000, and again in 2002.

His touring engagements at the head of the RPO frequently take him to Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Mexico and the USA. In their first recording for harmonia mundi usa, Maestro Gatti led the RPO in a visionary performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5; the collaboration continued with their acclaimed recording of Symphony No. 4.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The history of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is inextricably linked to its founder, Sir Thomas Beecham, one of Britain’s greatest conductors and classical music’s more colourful figures. When in 1946 Beecham set out to create a world-class ensemble from the nest players in the country, he envisioned an orchestra that would bring the greatest music ever composed to every corner of the United Kingdom. Since Sir Thomas’ death in 1961, the Orchestra’s musical direction and development has been guided by a series of distinguished maestros including Rudolf Kempe, Antal Dorati, André Previn and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Today, under the inspired leadership and gifted musicianship of Daniele Gatti (Music Director since 1996), the Orchestra continues to expand its international reputation while maintaining a deep commitment to its self-appointed role as Britain’s national orchestra.

The RPO’s performances and recordings have been widely acclaimed by the public and press around the world, who have praised the Orchestra for the “quality of its playing, which [is] incisive, insightful and extremely beautiful” (The Guardian, UK).

Over the years, the RPO has enjoyed long-standing partnerships with contemporary and living composers, and has also worked closely with many of the finest film composers of our time. The Orchestra is highly regarded for the versatility of its projects. These range from performing new works by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies at a Royal Gala concert at the Palace of Westminster in commemoration of the end of World War II, to playing at the London premières of the recent Star Wars® films.

An orchestra of world renown, the RPO has played for the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, the President of China in Tiananmen Square and at the tenth-anniversary celebration of Kazakhstan’s independence. The Orchestra was privileged to be invited to record the music for the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In addition to its regular engagements throughout Europe, the RPO’s future plans include tours of the USA, Mexico and China.