Since 1992, Jochen Schönleber has been artistic director, later he was bestowed with the title of an intendant for the opera festival ROSSINI IN WILDBAD and since 2004 he is director of the Akademie BelCanto. He has been active as a director in the field of prose and music theatre since 1987.

After his first film productions at a young age, obtaining his Magister Artium at the University of Tübingen on the historical justification of tragedy in Hölderlin, and scholarships in Naples, he became assistant to director Juri Ljubimow at the Stuttgart Staatsoper and the Karlsruhe Staatstheater. He was also production manager for opera at the Landeskunstwochen Tübingen and assistant to director and mime Helfrid Foron, a collaborator of Samuel Beckett. He has written numerous publications on theatre, opera and composers, including for the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Die Deutsche Bühne, the Stuttgarter Zeitung, the FAZ Group, etc.

Schönleber has been active as a director in the field of prose and musical theatre since 1987. Since 1989 he has staged Beckett, Christa Wolf, Schiller at various German theatres. In the field of opera he has directed contemporary composers such as Zimmermann, Henze and several productions of Rossini, Mayr, Meyerbeer, Mercadante for ROSSINI IN WILDBAD, many of them modern premieres.

In 2007-2009, he fundamentally rethought his approach to directing, partly taking over responsibility for the stage designs and  subsequently he celebrated success with IL SIGNOR BRUSCHINO, LA CENERENTOLA, IL TURCO IN ITALIA, GUILLAUME TELL, IL VIAGGIO A REIMS, MAOMETTO SECONDO, L’OCCASIONE FA IL LADRO, MOISE, TANCREDI, ERMIONE (Rossini) and I BRIGANTI (Mercadante) as well as with several operas by García and Balducci. He has staged in Barcelona (Teatre de Sarrià) and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, at the State Opera Russe (Bulgaria) and at the Slowacki Theatre in Krakow. In his hometown Tübingen, he conceived and staged IL CACCIATORE DELUSO – Der frustrierte Jäger by Jommelli in 2017 as a modern première to mark the 250th anniversary of the first performance.

The DVD of GUILLAUME TELL, which he edited himself together with Philippe Ohl, was awarded the EDITOR’S CHOICE in OPERA NEWS (New York) in 2015. The DVD of L’INGANNO FELICE was awarded CRITIC’S CHOICE in 2017. L’EQUIVOCO STRAVAGANTE released 2021, was nominated for the ICMA award and it was DVD proposal of the month in L’Opéra (Paris). L’OCCASIONE FA IL LADRO was recently

🌐 https://www.antoninofogliani.com/

🌐 Jochen Schönleber

Since 1992, Jochen Schönleber has been artistic director, later he was bestowed with the title of an intendant for the opera festival ROSSINI IN WILDBAD and since 2004 he is director of the Akademie BelCanto. He has been active as a director in the field of prose and music theatre since 1987.

After his first film productions at a young age, obtaining his Magister Artium at the University of Tübingen on the historical justification of tragedy in Hölderlin, and scholarships in Naples, he became assistant to director Juri Ljubimow at the Stuttgart Staatsoper and the Karlsruhe Staatstheater. He was also production manager for opera at the Landeskunstwochen Tübingen and assistant to director and mime Helfrid Foron, a collaborator of Samuel Beckett. He has written numerous publications on theatre, opera and composers, including for the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Die Deutsche Bühne, the Stuttgarter Zeitung, the FAZ Group, etc.

Schönleber has been active as a director in the field of prose and musical theatre since 1987. Since 1989 he has staged Beckett, Christa Wolf, Schiller at various German theatres. In the field of opera he has directed contemporary composers such as Zimmermann, Henze and several productions of Rossini, Mayr, Meyerbeer, Mercadante for ROSSINI IN WILDBAD, many of them modern premieres.

In 2007-2009, he fundamentally rethought his approach to directing, partly taking over responsibility for the stage designs and  subsequently he celebrated success with IL SIGNOR BRUSCHINO, LA CENERENTOLA, IL TURCO IN ITALIA, GUILLAUME TELL, IL VIAGGIO A REIMS, MAOMETTO SECONDO, L’OCCASIONE FA IL LADRO, MOISE, TANCREDI, ERMIONE (Rossini) and I BRIGANTI (Mercadante) as well as with several operas by García and Balducci. He has staged in Barcelona (Teatre de Sarrià) and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, at the State Opera Russe (Bulgaria) and at the Slowacki Theatre in Krakow. In his hometown Tübingen, he conceived and staged IL CACCIATORE DELUSO – Der frustrierte Jäger by Jommelli in 2017 as a modern première to mark the 250th anniversary of the first performance.

The DVD of GUILLAUME TELL, which he edited himself together with Philippe Ohl, was awarded the EDITOR’S CHOICE in OPERA NEWS (New York) in 2015. The DVD of L’INGANNO FELICE was awarded CRITIC’S CHOICE in 2017. L’EQUIVOCO STRAVAGANTE released 2021, was nominated for the ICMA award and it was DVD proposal of the month in L’Opéra (Paris). L’OCCASIONE FA IL LADRO was recently

🌐 https://www.antoninofogliani.com/

Antonino Fogliani is considered one of the world’s leading bel canto conductors today: Musically sensitive, technically brilliant, always interested in living theatre. Born from Messina, he first graduated in piano before studying conducting with Vittorio Parisi at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. Later he specialized in Siena at the Accademia Chigiana with Franco Donatoni and Ennio Morricone and assisted the conductor Gianluigi Gelmetti in London’s Covent Garden with Rossini’s Otello.

His celebrated debut at the Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro in 2001 with Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims was followed by numerous engagements in Pesaro and at well-known opera houses, including the Teatro La Fenice Venice, the Teatro dell Opera Rome, the Teatro San Carlo Naples and the Opéra Comique Paris, as well as the Festival Donizetti in Bergamo. At La Scala in Milan, he conducted Ugo Conte di Parigi and the new production of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, among others. In the 2011/12 season he conducted Aida at Houston Grand Opera and Teatro Regio di Parma, Lucia di Lammermoor at National ReisOpera and Concertgebouw Amsterdam, L’amico Fritz at Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow and La traviata at Opéra de Montréal, among others. In 2012/13 he conducted I Capuleti ed i Montecchi with Vesselina Kasarova in Oslo, La Bohème, L’elisir d’amore in Paris-Massy, Turandot at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Il pirata at the Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, La sonnambula in Monte Carlo and Attila at the St. Gallen Festival. He has since conducted in Bregenz (Carmen 2017) and in many other important opera houses worldwide. He is principal guest conductor in Düsseldorf. The pandemic could not harm his career, among others he conducted live-stream premieres in Zurich Les contes d’Hoffmann and in Munich Il signor Bruschino. Besides Munich (Falstaff, Guillaume Tell, Otello), he works a lot in Geneva.

Fogliani made his debut with ROSSINI IN WILDBAD in 2004. Since then, his continuous collaboration with Jochen Schönleber has resulted in numerous CD and DVD recordings such as Rossini’s Ciro in Babilonia, Mosè in Egitto, Otello, L occasione fa il ladro, Nicola Vaccaj’s La sposa di Messina, Don Chisciotte (Mercadante), Bianca e Falliero (all Naxos). Several of these recordings are cited as reference recordings in international CD magazines (Otello, Mosè, Ciro, Maometto secondo).

In 2011, his long-standing collaboration with ROSSINI IN WILDBAD was institutionalized when he was appointed Music Director of the Festival.
In 2021, at the 32nd edition of the Belcanto Opera Festival, planned completely open air because of Covid-19, he conducted Elisabetta and a programme for Diana Haller featuring Haydn, Mayr and Rossini. During an orchestra rehearsal hastily moved indoors to the Kurtheater because of the catastrophic weather conditions, he fell headfirst into the orchestra pit due to a defective safety device. Despite a broken hand, he was back in front of his beloved orchestra just two days later, conducting a sensational concert. He is a true pillow of the Rossini in Wildbad festival.