Leonardo Catalanotto, Coach
Leonardo Catalanotto was born in Caracas. His career in opera began in 1993 as assistant conductor at the Teatro Massimo “V. Bellini” in Catania and subsequently took him to major theaters in Italy such as the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival, and the theaters in Düsseldorf, Lisbon, Seville and Geneva. He served on the music staff of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, where he worked on the productions of Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata, and assisted Maestro Zubin Mehta for the productions of Die Frau ohne Schatten, La forza del destino, Tosca and Tristan und Isolde. He has been the assistant to Maestro Jesùs Lòpez Cobos with the Teatro Real in Madrid for Macbeth. In addition to conducting numerous symphonic concerts, he has conducted and played the harpsichord continuo for the productions of La serva padrona by Paisiello and Il giocatore by Cherubini for the Teatro Sangiorni in Catania, Madama Butterfly with the Teatro Mancinelli in Orvieto, Aida at the Amphitheater of Eboli, Tosca, and La Cenerentola with the Teatro Superga di Nichelino. In Japan he conducted the Gunma Symphony Orchestra in a highly acclaimed concert entitled "Opera senza parole!" and has led the Oriental Symphony Orchestra of the Oriental Art Center in Shanghai in concerts. He has conducted and played the harpsichord continuo in Le nozze di Figaro, Lucia di Lammermoor and Il turco in Italia at the Teatro Massimo "V. Bellini" in Catania.
He earned his diploma in orchestra conducting at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese under the guidance of Donato Renzetti. He is regularly invited to China as guest faculty at the Conservatory of Music in Shenyang and regularly conducts master classes throughout Japan in Sapporo, Shizuoka, Osaka, and Tokyo. He is a regular guest vocal coach at the National Center of the Performing Arts of Beijing, where he has collaborated on Rigoletto, L'elisir d'amore, Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo Tell, and assisted Lorin Maazel on Il barbiere di Siviglia.