Rising star Antonio Pappano is an exciting addition to Festival 2005. Pappano spent his formative years in the United States, where he launched his career as a pianist for his vocalist father while he studied piano, composition and conducting. His work as a repetiteur and assistant conductor led to engagements in theaters worldwide. At age 30, Pappano was appointed music director of the Norwegian National Opera and after two years, he joined the prestigious Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, where he worked for a decade. Pappano became Musical Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2002. This season, he will conduct Don Giovanni, Aïda, and Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, Faust and Peter Grimes. Beginning in 2005, Pappano becomes music director of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
| 
