Jonathan Brandani is Artistic Director of Calgary Opera (Canada). A versatile opera and concert conductor, has been described a ‘revelation’ (Première Loge) and praised for "his fine regard for the score’s details […] his clear, purposeful indications" and "his enthusiasm" (Seen and Heard International). 

 

His 25/26 season will include, among others, Turandot at Florida Grand Opera, marking the centennial anniversary of Puccini’s masterwork, as well as productions of Madame Butterfly and Hänsel and Gretel at Calgary Opera (Canada).

 

Recent engagements include appearances at the The Atlanta Opera (La Bohème), Opera Theatre of St. Louis (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Calgary Opera (Das Rheingold, Bluebeard’s Castle, Gianni Schicchi). Jonathan has also appeared in opera productions and concerts at the Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria (with the Wiener Symphoniker and the Symphonieorchester Voralberg), Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (Italy), Göteborg Opera (Sweden), Calgary Opera (with Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra), the Danish Royal Opera House Copenhagen (with soprano Angela Gheorghiu), Staatstheater Meiningen (with Meininger Hofkapelle). In recent seasons he has  also conducted at Teatro Comunale di Bologna (Italy), Théatre Royal de Wallonie-Liège (Belgium), Orchestra Filarmonica Toscanini in Parma (Italy), Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf (Germany), Palau de les Arts in Valencia (Spain), Wexford Festival Opera (Ireland), Donizetti Festival in Bergamo (Italy).

 

From 2014 to 2019 he has been Associate Conductor of Minnesota Opera (USA), and from 2017 to 2020 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of Daegu Opera House (South Korea), where he made his Asia debut in 2017; his performances of Aida at the 15th Daegu International Opera Festival were hailed with such enthusiasm that they earned him the Grand Prix, the most prestigious award given by the Festival for artistic merits. 

 

In 2018 he made his debut at Wexford Festival Opera (Ireland) conducting Mercadante’s Il Bravo (whose score he had previously restored and co-edited); his interpretation of this hidden Bel Canto gem was awarded as Best Opera Production by the Irish Times.

 

He discovered a last version of Nino Rota’s opera «Napoli Milionaria» and published a paper about his findings for the prestigious Fondazione Cini; he also conducted this version of Rota’s opera at Teatro Verdi in Pisa, Teatro del Giglio in Lucca and Teatro Goldoni in Livorno (Italy) in 2021/2022. 

 

Passionate about historical performance practice, since its establishment, Jonathan has collaborated with Teatro Nuovo, a Belcanto festival on period instruments based in New York, where he conducted Mayr's Medea in Corinto in 2018 and Crispino e la Comare in 2023. With his own period-instrument ensembles Nuova Cappella di Palazzo and L’Eloquenza he has been performing and recording unpublished music from 17th and 18th-century Tuscany.

 

After his degree in Piano, Jonathan graduated in Conducting with full marks and honor at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna; after that, he also earned a Master of Arts in Orchestra Conducting from Yale University. He also studied composition, organ and harpsichord, and as a continuo player he has been collaborating in concerts and recordings with international orchestras like Concerto Köln and I Barocchisti, among others. He is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program of San Francisco Opera.