Principal conductor of the Wexford Festival Opera, Francesco Cilluffo was born in Turin, where he graduated in conducting and composition from the conservatory, and music history from the university (DAMS). He holds a Master’s degree from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and a PhD from King’s College London. He later collaborated as an assistant with Michael Tilson Thomas, John Eliot Gardiner, Asher Fisch, John Mauceri and Lothar Zagrosek.

Performances include L’Arlesiana in Jesi (recorded for Dynamic); the world premieres of Marco Tutino’s operas Le braci in Florence and Martina Franca and Miseria e nobiltà in Genoa; Tosca in Tulsa; Macbeth, Falstaff, Verdi’s Requiem and Manon Lescaut at The Grange Festival with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; numerous opera productions for OperaLombardia, Opera Holland Park as well as in Tel Aviv; symphonic concerts with the Bremer Philharmoniker, the orchestras of the Arena di Verona and the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari; and the first Italian performance of Absolute Jest by John Adams with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini of Parma.

www.francescocilluffo.com