Giuseppe Pietraroia, Conductor

Pacific Opera Victoria
Conductor, Cinderella
September - October, 2010

Recently appointed Music Director of the Civic Orchestra of Victoria for the 2010-11 season, Giuseppe Pietraroia is also Music Director of the Victoria Choral Society and Conductor-in-Residence for both Pacific Opera Victoria and the Victoria Symphony. As a guest conductor he has been engaged by Orchestra London, Hamilton Philharmonic, Okanagan Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, l'Orchestre Métropolitain, Lachine Music Festival in Montreal, l'Opéra de Montréal, and Opera New Brunswick.

He has served as assistant conductor for productions by Opera Lyra of Ottawa, and l'Opéra de Montréal as well as Pacific Opera Victoria's productions of Un Ballo in Maschera, Tosca, Werther, and The Magic Flute. He conducted POV's productions of Il Barbiere Di Siviglia, La traviata, La Bohème, Lucia di Lammermoor, Norma, Rigoletto , Manon Lescaut, and Madama Butterfly. In fall 2010 he conducts POV's production of Rossini's great comic opera La Cenerentola (Cinderella). In addition he has conducted productions of Tosca and La traviata for Opera New Brunswick.

With the Victoria Choral Society Maestro Pietraroia has conducted performances of Messiah with the Victoria Symphony, Mozart's Mass in C minor, a choreographed production of Orff's Carmina Burana in collaboration with Ballet Victoria and Dvorak's Stabat Mater.

In addition to several concerts with the Victoria Symphony, 2010-11 season highlights include Rossini's La Cenerentola with POV, David Fanshawe's African Sanctus with Victoria Choral Society and a production of La Bohème with l'Opéra de Montréal. Maestro Pietraroia's cd with soprano Marie-Josée Lord and l'Orchestre Métropolitain for the ATMA label is due to be released in November 2010.

Giuseppe Pietraroia is the recipient of the George and Jane Heffelfinger Pacific Opera Victoria Artist of the Year Award for 2003-04 and the Canada Council's Jean-Marie Beaudet Award in Orchestral Conducting for 2005.

The orchestra, under Giuseppe Pietraroia, played brightly, the score's details lovingly brought out by the crisp and passionate direction. The Italian character of the score has never sounded more authentic or idiomatic.
Review Vancouver, POV's Rigoletto, 2006

Giuseppe Pietraroia ... had a panache all his own. Coupled with his fine musical and dramatic sensibilities, he drew vivacious, robust playing from the orchestra.
Opera Canada, POV's La traviata, 2001

August, 2010