Anthony Barrese, hailed by South Florida Classical Review as conducting “with passion and idiomatic fluency,” earns accolades as both a composer and a conductor. He is the recipient of the 2007 Georg Solti Foundation U.S. award for young conductors. His original works have won numerous awards, and he is regularly engaged by opera companies in North America and Italy.

Currently serving as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Opera Southwest, Mr. Barrese will lead the company’s season productions of Hector Armienta’s Zorro, Le comte Ory, and Turandot, as well as Florida Grand Opera’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. Last season, the maestro led the company’s productions of La scala di seta, La traviata, and Pelleas et Melisande.  Additionally, he returned to Opera Delaware for their productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia and Le nozze di Figaro as well as Folks Operetta’s production of Korngold’s rarely-heard opera, Die Kathrin in Chicago. Future seasons will see Barrese reprise Armienta’s Zorro.

In recent seasons, the Maestro conducted Ali Baba, Tosca, Maria de Buenos Aires, La cambiale di matrimonio, Lohengrin, Guillaume Tell, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Fledermaus, La Cenerentola, Rossini’s Otello with the American staged première of the finale lieto, and a “Return of Rossini” festival, all with Opera Southwest; Sarasota Opera’s production of Romeo et Juliette; La bohéme with Opera Tampa; Kurt Weill’s operetta Johnny Johnson with Chicago Folks Operetta; The Merry Widow for Opera Saratoga; Suor Angelica and Il Tabarro with Opera Delaware; and Orfeo ed Euridice in a return to Florida Grand Opera.

Mo. Barrese made débuts at Florida Grand Opera conducting Les pêcheurs de perles and Norma, Opera Theatre of St. Louis conducting The Kiss, Opera North conducting L’elisir d’amore, and Boston Lyric Opera conducting Don Giovanni. In 2014, Mr. Barrese held the prestigious honor of leading the world première of Franco Faccio’s little known opera Amleto with Opera Southwest, not heard anywhere since 1871. With his background as a musicologist, Barrese worked vigorously for nearly ten years to rediscover, prepare, and edit the critical edition of Amleto, in conjunction with Casa Ricordi, for American audiences. In the following years, Amleto premièred on the east coast with Opera Delaware and as a part of the Bregenz Festival in Austria.

Mr. Barrese made his operatic conducting début in Milan with La bohème and made his début in France conducting Turandot at the Opéra de Massy. He led several productions with Sarasota Opera including, Lakmé, Le nozze di Figaro, and Hansel and Gretel; and a new production of Turandot in the historic Teatro Ventidio Basso, with a cast that included Nicola Martinucci as Caláf. Barrese was the Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Opera in 2006-2007 and later returned there as Guest Conductor for a production of Tosca, and La Wally. He also recorded Roberto Andreoni’s “quattro luci sul lago” with I Solisti della Scala, a chamber group made up of the first chair musicians of the La Scala Philharmonic, for broadcast on Italian National Radio (RAI 3).

Other notable highlights include being the recipient of numerous composition awards including a N.E.C. Contemporary Ensemble Composition Competition Award for his “Madrigale a 3 voci femminili,” The Sir Georg Solti Conducting award, and two B.M.I. Student Composers Awards.