Attilio Cremonesi

Attilio Cremonesi is regarded as one of the most renowned specialists in rarely performed compositions of the Baroque and Classical periods, as documented by numerous CD recordings. A particular focus of his work is the rediscovery and revival of such works, some of which he has even performed for the first time in modern times. Since the 2024/25 season, he has been conductor in Residence of the Staatstheater as well as the Händelfestspiele Karlsruhe.

In the 2026/27 season, Cremonesi will conduct, among other productions in Karlsruhe, the new production of Handel’s Faramondo as part of the festival, as well as the revival of Rameau’s Les Boréades.

He will also conduct the new production of Dido and Aeneas in a new arrangement of his own at the Teatro Verdi di Pisa and return to Budapest and Halle for concerts. He will also once again appear at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, where he will step in at short notice to take over the musical direction of the performance of Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno with René Jacobs’ Freiburger Barockorchester.

As a highly sought-after interpreter of works ranging from the Baroque to bel canto, he has appeared as a guest, among others, at the Wiener Festwochen, Innsbrucker Festwochen, Dresdner Musikfestspielen, Schwetzinger Festspielen, Lucerne Festival, Festival Radio France Montpellier and the Pergolesi Festival Jesi.

He has conducted opera productions, among others, at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Theater an der Wien, Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, as well as in Bonn, Oslo, Antwerp, Paris, Montpellier, Geneva, Lucerne, Basel, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Sydney.

Prominent musical partners have included the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, in particular the award-winning production of Dido and Aeneas directed by Sasha Waltz; Münchner Symphoniker, Concerto Köln, Freiburger Barockorchester, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Il Pomo d’Oro, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, Collegium Vocale Gent, Kammerorchester Basel (a European tour with Handel’s Ezio as well as touring concerts with Vivica Genaux), and regularly the Kärntner Sinfonieorchester.

In recent seasons, he has conducted, among others, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile; the new productions of Le nozze di Figaro, La Clemenza di Tito, Turco in Italia and Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse; La Cenerentola at the Nationaltheater Mannheim; Orfeo in Bern; Tommaso Traetta’s Antigona at Theater an der Wien; Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Klagenfurt and Duisburg; Teseo and Serse in Halle; Siroe, Phèdre (J.-B. Lemoyne) and Les Boréades (Rameau) in Karlsruhe; Alcina in Klagenfurt, Rheinsberg and Münster; Argenore (Wilhelmine von Bayreuth), also at Theater Münster; Il matrimonio segreto (Cimarosa) in Potsdam; and Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula at Theater Meiningen. His collaboration with Camerata Bern also took him to Halle and Bern for the world premiere of Jazziah, a compositional fusion of jazz and classical music.

Cremonesi initially studied piano, organ and organ composition in Piacenza, and later conducting and historically informed performance practice in Basel. From 2021-2026, he was Artistic Director of the Händelfestspielorchester Halle, and from 2017-2020, Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile.