Conducting
Bruno Dal Bon
Conductor, philosopher, cultural operator
Bruno Dal Bon studied at the Conservatory of Milan, graduating with a degree in orchestral conducting in 1982. He furthered his education, training with Pierre Dervaux in Nice, Franco Ferrara in Rome and Siena and Sergiu Celibidache in Munchen. From 1982 to 1984, he was the assistant to Carlo Maria Giulini.
Complementing his diploma in orchestral conducting, Dal Bon continued to study letters and philosophy at the University of Bologna graduating in 1983 with highest honors with a thesis on Music Semiotics supervised by Umberto Eco. In 1985, he was a finalist in the Min-On International Competition of Orchestral Conducting in Tokyo.
From the beginning of his activity as opera conductor, Dal Bon has dedicated himself to reviving lesser-known operas such as Olivo e Pasquale of G. Donizetti, which he conducted at the Globe Theater in Tokyo, at Teatro Sociale in Como, and at the Teatro Coccia di Novara; Don Procopio of G. Bizet also in Novara and Como; and La Gazzetta of G. Rossini in Como. In the same years has conducted operas for children as Pollicino of H.W. Henze and The Little Sweep of B. Britten as part of a two years project with Teatro Fraschini of Pavia.
He has also led the orchestra for performances of Rita and Il Campanello di G. Donizetti,Madama Butterfly, and Il Trovatore in Como and Pavia; La bohème at the Sala Verdi of Milan, and Rigoletto in Treviso. In 1997, Dal Bon began his collaboration with the Kansai Opera of Osaka where he conducted Madama Butterfly (1996 and 2002); Il Trovatore, Falstaff, Tosca, Un Ballo in Maschera, Adriana Lecouvreur. La bohème, and Turandot.
In Europe he conducted L’Elisir d’amore and a new production of Il Trittico by G. Puccini at the Opernhaus in Graz, Il Trovatoreat the L’Esplanade of Saint-Etienne, La Traviata, Turandot and Madama Butterfly at Opera Ireland in Dublin, Die Entführung aus dem Serail al Teatre Principal in Palma de Maiorca, Carmen, Gianni Schicchi, Le Villi, La Traviata, Il Corsaro and Il Re Pastore, by W. A. Mozart at Como and Pavia.
Dal Bon returns in Asia most recently to conduct Le Nozze di Figaro at Hong Kong Opera, Otello by G. Verdi at Kansai Opera in Osaka, Pagliacci in concert version with and the Yomiuri Nihon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, Le Villi by G. Puccini at Shangai Opera House and concerts with the China National Opera House in Pechin.
Dal Bon has dedicated himself also to musical administration, becoming President of the Associazione Musicale Italiana of Milan, Director of the Conservatory of Como, Artistic Director and President of As.Li.Co., Teatro Sociale di Como and Europerastudio in Rome, Artistic Director of the Orchestra Filarmonia Veneta of Treviso. He is also a lecturer of Orchestra Techniques, Concerting and Conducting, Analysis and History of Opera at the Conservatory of Como.
Since 2014 he is the creator and curator of the Festival A Due Voci – dialogues of music and philosophy of Como and, together with Guido Barbieri, of the Terezin 17/10 project dedicated to the artists of the Terezin ghetto. He holds regular meetings, in Italy and in France, on topics related to the philosophy of music and from 2016 collaborates with the magazine Doppiozero. In December 2019 his first book dedicated to Nietzsche and music will be released for Edizioni Mimesis.
