Nicolò Jacopo Suppa

Nicolò Jacopo Suppa is the Principal Conductor of the Molise Symphony Orchestra. He is also the winner of the competition for Principal Conductor of the National Opera Theatre in Tirana. A great-grandson of the soprano Margherita Rinaldi and grandson of the bassoonist Virginio Bianchi, he graduated in viola and, with distinction, in composition and orchestral conducting, achieving top marks. He also studied the violin, piano and opera singing.He was assistant to Maestro Daniele Gatti at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

A prize-winner in international competitions, he won the Italian International Conducting Competition, the award for most promising young conductor at the first Giancarlo Aliverta International Opera Competition in 2021, and reached the final of the prestigious Premio Cantelli International Competition in 2022.

He is the only student at the Milan Conservatoire to have won the Milan Conservatoire’s Operastudio competition four times in a row. He has attended masterclasses as a full participant with maestros of the calibre of Gianandrea Noseda, and furthered his studies at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena with maestros Luciano Acocella and Daniele Gatti, conducting at the final concert recorded for the programme ‘Prima della prima’, which was broadcast on Rai5.In the 2021 edition, he was awarded the Diploma of Merit in orchestral conducting by the Accademia Chigiana in Siena and by Maestros Acocella and Gatti; he was the first student in the history of the Accademia Chigiana to be awarded the Diploma of Merit as an opera conductor, for his performance of “L’Occasione fa il ladro” during the Chigiana Opera Lab.

On the recommendation of Maestro Daniele Gatti and the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, he made his debut with the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto in September 2019. Despite his young age, in addition to the symphonic repertoire, he has already made his debut with numerous operas and has conducted in theatres such as the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the National State Opera Theatre of Tirana, the Arena di Verona, the Petruzzelli in Bari, the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, the Dal Verme in Milan, the Auditorium Verdi in Milan, the Coccia in Novara, the Rossini in Pesaro, the Verdi in Florence, the Verdi in Pisa, the Muse in Ancona, the Comunale in Vicenza, the Vittorio Alfieri in Asti, the Magnani in Fidenza, the Savoia in Campobasso, the Vittorio Emanuele in Benevento, the Umberto Giordano in Foggia, the Chiabrera in Savona, the Zandonai in Rovereto, the Teatro Antico in Taormina, the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, the Rinnovati in Siena, the Carcano in Milan, the Auditorium Pollini in Padua, the Sala Verdi at the Milan Conservatoire, conducting at major festivals, opera seasons and concert series with distinguished soloists and directors from the international scene.

He has conducted orchestras including: the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Orchestra Fondazione Arena di Verona, the Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, the Orchestra del Teatro Verdi in Trieste, the Orchestra del Teatro Nazionale dell’Opera in Tirana, the Orchestra della Toscana, I Pomeriggi Musicali, the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra of Parma, the Milan Symphony Orchestra, the Marche Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rossini Symphony Orchestra of Pesaro, the Orchestra of Padua and the Veneto, the Benevento Philharmonic Orchestra, the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, the Molise Symphony Orchestra, the 131 Orchestra of Basilicata, the UniON Orchestra, the UniMi Orchestra, I Musici di Parma, the Coccia Theatre Orchestra of Novara, the Savona Symphony Orchestra, the Bruni Symphony Orchestra of Cuneo, the Italian Youth Orchestra, and the Settenovecento Orchestra. He has worked as an assistant at the Opéra National de Lyon and as a rehearsal coach with the orchestra of the Teatro Regio in Turin.

Acclaimed by critics and journalists such as Alberto Mattioli, Alessandro Cammarano and many others as one of the most interesting and promising young conductors, following his performance of “Rigoletto” at the Spazio Teatro 89 in Milan, he was named ‘Best Newcomer of 2019’ in the ‘Operatic Oscars’ by Pierachille Dolfini, a distinguished international journalist and music critic.He has collaborated with soloists of the calibre of Stefano Bollani, Anna Tifu, Giovanni Gnocchi, Ettore Pagano, Alessandro Carbonare, Giuseppe Albanese, Igudesman and Joo, Matthias Racz, Silvia Careddu, directors such as Grischa Asagaroff, Lorenzo Mariani, Davide Garattini, Alessio Pizzech, Gianmaria Aliverta and artists such as Paolo Bonolis, Beppe Barra and Alessandro Baricco.

He made his debut with the Milan and Turin Conservatoires’ orchestra at the MITO 2021 festival at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan, having been named the top graduate in orchestral conducting for 2019 across the conservatoires of both cities; in the same year, he conducted the first edition of the Pesaro Music Awards. In 2022, he conducted the Ferragosto concert at high altitude (Limone Piemonte), broadcast live on national television on Rai3, leading the Bruni Orchestra.Active as a composer, he is also a jury member in international competitions for opera singers. He was a member of the Teatro alla Scala children’s choir, also performing as a soloist, and has played in various orchestras, including the Orchestra dell’Accademia del Teatro alla Scala, where he also served as principal viola.

He has worked with artists on the international scene such as Muti, Zeffirelli, Mehta, Cailly, Luisi, Gergiev, Prêtre, Maazel, Termeikanov, Domingo, Nucci and many others, and has performed in the world’s most prestigious theatres, including La Scala, the Parco della Musica in Rome, the Strathmore Music Centre (Washington), the Harris Theatre in Chicago, the Teatro Massimo Colosseo, the Max Littmann Saal in Bad Kissingen, the Mupa in Budapest, the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan and many others, for prestigious symphonic and operatic seasons.

He will soon return to the podium to conduct orchestras including the Orchestra Fondazione Arena di Verona, I Pomeriggi Musicali, the Molise Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra 131 of Basilicata, a new production of “La Bohème” on the Piedmontese opera circuit, a new production of “Norma” at the Teatro Magnani in Fidenza, his debut at the Donizetti Opera Festival, and his debut at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste this season with “L’Elisir d’amore”, directed by Damiano Michieletto.