Giordano Bellincampi
Conductor
Bio
Giordano Bellincampi is the Music Director of the Auckland Philharmonia. Previously, he was the Principal Conductor of I Pomeriggi Musicali, Milan, Chief Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra from 2013 – 2018, General Music Director of the Duisburg Philharmonic from 2012 – 2017, General Music Director of the Danish National Opera, Aarhus from 2005 – 2013, Music Director of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra from 2000 – 2006 and, between 1997 – 2000, he was also Chief Conductor of the Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen, the leading contemporary ensemble in Denmark.
Bellincampi enjoys regular relationships as a guest with numerous orchestras and musical institutions around the world, from Scandinavia and Europe, through North America to Asia and Australasia. With an enormous repertoire embracing classical, romantic and contemporary music, he is particularly celebrated for his prowess in the Central European, Italian and Scandinavian symphonic traditions, and for his interpretations of significant choral and vocal works.
Recent highlights with his Auckland Philharmonia have included a complete cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies to celebrate the composer’s 250th anniversary, a gala performance to celebrate the renaming of Auckland’s Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, and a performance of a new horn concerto by Hans Abrahamsen, co-commissioned with the Berlin Philharmonic. He also conducted the New Zealand premiere of Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt, the latest in a sequence of annual concertante opera performances which has seen the orchestra undertake a varied repertoire including Verdi’s Aida and Otello, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. He also made his debuts with the Queensland Symphony and Florida’s Jacksonville Symphony, returned to conduct symphonic programmes with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, the Toledo Symphony, Canada’s Victoria Symphony, the Tasmanian Symphony, the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música and the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana. Previous years have also seen acclaimed gala performances of Wagner’s operatic and orchestral music with the Duisburg Philharmonic to mark the re-opening of the orchestra’s home in Duisburg’s Mercatorhalle, as well as a visit to Amsterdam’s legendary Concertgebouw Hall, in repertoire by Nielsen, Sibelius and Beethoven.
During the 23/24 season Bellincampi conducts signature repertoire with the Auckland Philharmonia, including the fifth symphonies of Mahler and Mendelssohn, returns to conduct the Estonian National Symphony and Queensland Symphony and makes his long-awaited debut with the Sydney Symphony. He also leads a new production of Tosca at the Gothenburg Opera.
Bellincampi has excelled in the field of opera since making his debut with the Royal Opera in Copenhagen with La Boheme in 2000. He has since then conducted many of the great Italian works at the Royal Opera with particular focus on Puccini and Verdi, including leading their acclaimed new production of Aida at the opening of their new theatre in 2005. He has also appeared extensively with Deutsche Oper am Rhein, conducting such titles as Luisa Miller, Norma and Cavalleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci. Whilst Music Director of the Danish National Opera, Bellincampi conducted works such as Der Rosenkavalier, Der Fliegende Holländer, Tristan und Isolde, Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte. He also maintains close connections with many of the world’s leading opera singers including Angela Gheorghiu, Joseph Calleja and Roberto Alagna, regularly working with them in orchestral galas and recitals, as well as being a much-requested accompanist by leading instrumentalists such as Sarah Chang and Angela Hewitt.
Bellincampi’s extensive discography includes Ross Harris’s 6th symphony for Naxos with the Auckland Philharmonia, numerous recordings for the Da Capo and Marco Polo labels of Danish composers from the classical era through to the present day including Holmboe, Lumbye, Joachim Andersen, Per Norgard, Ole Schmidt and Ib Glindemann, and the premiere recording of Weyse’s opera Sovedrikken, as well as Italian opera arias with Liping Zhang and the Prague Philharmonia, and Nielsen’s Third Symphony for EMI Classics, and works by Svendsen and Walton. With the Duisburg Philharmonic he released Nielsen’s Violin Concerto with soloist Kolja Blacher.
Born in Italy and moving to Copenhagen at a young age, he began his career as a trombonist with the Royal Danish Orchestra before making his professional conducting debut in 1994. As Associate Professor at the Royal Danish Academy Giordano Bellincampi is dedicated to the work of educating coming generations of orchestra musicians and conductors, and he also regularly gives masterclasses and serves as a jury member for a number of international conducting competitions. In 2010 he was created a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog, an award bestowed by the Danish Royal Family for services to Danish culture, and he also holds the title of Cavaliere from the President of Italy for his international promotion of Italian music.
