* Honorary president

Sir Antonio Pappano Director emeritus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, has been Music Director of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London since September 2002. He has held other prestigious positions in the past: in 1990 he was appointed Music Director of the Norske Opera in Oslo and from 1991 to 2002 he held the same position at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.
Born in London in 1959 to Italian parents, Pappano studied piano, composition and conducting in the United States. Pappano made his international debut at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo, where he was appointed musical director in 1990. His most important international engagements continue to include his debuts at the Vienna State Opera in 1993, the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1997, and the Bayreuth Festival in 1999.
Sir Antonio Pappano has conducted many internationally distinguished orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Dresden, Staatskapelle Berlin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In April 2014, he made his debut at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala with Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens, a production that won the Premio Abbiati della Critica Musicale Italiana, Italy’s most prestigious music award, for best opera.
Many of Sir Antonio Pappano’s numerous recordings with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra and Chorus for Warner Classics have received significant international acclaim: Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem and Gioacchino Rossini’s overtures, as well as Verdi’s Aida (2016 Echo Klassik Award winner for “Conductor of the Year”), Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Beatrice Rana. Recordings of Brahms’ Violin Concerto (Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia) and Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1 (London Symphony Orchestra) with soloist Janine Jansen and Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto with soloist Jan Lisiecki (Deutsche Grammophon) were made for Decca Records. In February 2016, Sir Antonio Pappano and mezzo-soprano Joyce di Donato received the 58th Grammy® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Recording for their joint album “Joyce&Tony,” released by Erato Classics.
In the spring of 2007, he was appointed to the Accademico Effettivo di Santa Cecilia. In 2012, the Queen awarded him a knighthood for his services to music, and in the same year he was named Cavaliere di Gran Croce dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana. In March 2015, Rome’s Tor Vergata University awarded him an honorary doctorate, and in May 2015, the Royal Philharmonic Society honored Antonio Pappano as the 100th recipient of the award since its inception in 1870, with the Gold Medal, which is that institution’s highest honor. He thus joins a select circle of musicians that includes Brahms, Elgar, Strauss, Stravinsky and Britten, among others.