Born in Messina in 1976, Fogliani initially studied composition at the Conservatorio ‘GB Martini’ in Bologna, conducting at the Milan Conservatory, and both disciplines at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena (where his teachers included Ennio Morricone and Gianluigi Gelmetti, whom he assisted on a 2000 production of Rossini’s Otello at Covent Garden).
Fogliani made his professional debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro with the composer’s final Italian-language opera Il Viaggio a Reims, which had received its modern premiere at the Festival under Claudio Abbado in 1984. Engagements at major Italian houses including La Scala, La Fenice, the Teatro San Carlo and the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma followed; Fogliani specialised in bel canto repertoire, with a particular emphasis on Rossini’s opera seria and early Verdi works such as Oberto, I masnadieri, I Lombardi and La battaglia di Legnagno.
In 2004, Fogliani conducted Ciro in Babilonia and La cenerentola at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival, which takes place each summer at the Black Forest spa town which the composer visited in 1856. Seven years later, Fogliani was appointed Music Director of the Festival, and over the next two decades he conducted a number of important modern premieres: the first entirely uncut performance of Guillaume Tell (2013), Bellini’s first professionally-staged opera Bianca e Gernando (later revised as Bianca e Fernando), the first modern stagings of operas by Vaccai and Mercadante, and a performance of Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Fogliani’s own orchestrations of the seven movements which were composed by Giovanni Tadolini after the elderly composer fell sick. All these performances were recorded and subsequently released on Naxos.
Fogliani also enjoyed a distinguished international career, making his US debut with Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at Houston Grand Opera in 2011 and forging close associations with the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf (where he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor in 2017). Beyond bel canto, his repertoire included Mozart, mature Verdi, Wagner, and French opera; during the COVID-19 lockdown he conducted a performance of Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann which was livestreamed from an empty Opernhaus Zürich.
Fogliani was invested as an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2018; in 2021 he was appointed Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Conservatorio ‘A. Scarlatti’ in Palermo. He continued conducting throughout his final illness, withdrawing from two performances at the Torre del Lago Puccini Festival only last week; at the time of his death his schedule included forthcoming performances of Maria Stuarda and Lucrezia Borgia at Bayerische Staatsoper, Tosca and Nabucco at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. La fanciulla del West in Geneva, and Il barbiere di Siviglia and L’elisir d’amore at the Wiener Staatsoper.
Gregory Kunde, Annalisa Stroppa, Anna Bonitatibus and Speranza Scappucci were among the artists who paid tribute to Fogliani on social media, whilst the Rossini in Wildbad Festival issued a statement recognising his ‘extraordinary artistry, generosity and love for Rossini’ and the Deutsche Oper Berlin remembered him as ‘a wonderful conductor, a passionate musician, and an extraordinarily warm-hearted person’.
Fogliani is survived by his wife Angelica and son Lorenzo; his funeral will take place tomorrow at Lugano Cathedral tomorrow.
Antonino Fogliani - a selected discography
Rossini: Guillaume Tell
First Recording of the Complete Opera
Andrew Foster-Williams (Guillaume Tell), Judith Howarth (Mathilde), Michael Spyres (Arnold), Tara Stafford (Jemmy), Alessandra Volpe (Hedwige), Giulio Pelligra (Rodolphe), Artavazd Sargsyan (Ruodi), Nahuel Di Pierro (Walther Fürst/Melchthal), Raffaele Facciolà (Gesler)
Virtuosi Brunensis & Camerata Bach Choir, Poznań, Antonino Fogliani
Available formats: 4 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Michael Spyres (Otello), Jessica Pratt (Desdemona), Giorgio Trucco (Jago), Ugo Guagliardo (Elmiro), Geraldine Chauvet (Emilia), Filippo Adami (Rodrigo), Sean Spyres (Il Doge)
Virtuosi Brunensis & Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir, Cluj, Antonino Fogliani
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Alex Penda (Semiramide), Marianna Pizzolato (Arsace), Lorenzo Regazzo (Assur), Andrea Mastroni (Oroe), John Osborn (Idreno), Marija Jokovic (Azema), Vassilis Kavayas (Mitrane), Raffaele Facciola (Ghost of Nino)
Poznan Camerata Bach Choir, Virtuosi Brunensis, Antonino Fogliani
Available formats: 3 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Serena Farnocchia (Ermione), Aurora Faggioli (Andromacha), Moisés Marín (Pirro), Patrick Kabongo (Oreste), Chuan Wang (Pilade)
Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra, Antonino Fogliani
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Rossini: Stabat Mater and Giovanna d'Arco
1832/33 original version with sections by Giovanni Tadolini - world premiere recordings
Majella Cullagh (soprano), Marianna Pizzolato (mezzo), José Luis Sola (tenor) & Mirco Palazzi (bass)
Camerata Bach Choir, Poznan & Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Antonino Fogliani
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Doina Dimitriu (Bianca), Yasuharu Nakajima (Ugo), Carmen Giannattasio (Adelia), Dejan Vatchkov (Folco), Sim Tokyurek (Luigi), Milijana Nikolic (Emma)
Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo, Antonino Fogliani
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Silvia Dalla Benetta (Bianca), Maxim Mironov (Gernando), Vittorio Prato (Filippo), Luca Dall’Amico (Carlo)
Virtuosi Brunensis & Camerata Bach Choir, Poznań, Antonino Foglian
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Ugo Guagliardo (Don Chisciotte), Domenico Colaianni (Sancio Pansa), Laura Catrani (Chiteria), Ricardo Mirabelli (Gamaccio), Hans Ever Mogollon (Basilio) & Giulio Mastrototaro (Bernardo)
San Pietro a Majella Chorus, Naples & Czech Chamber Soloists, Brno, Antonino Fogliani
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Jessica Pratt (Donna Isabella), Filippo Adami (Don Emanuele), Armando Ariostini (Don Cesare), Wakako Ono (Beatrice), Maurizio Lo Piccolo (Diego)
Classica Chamber Choir & Brno Virtuosi Brunensis, Antonino Fogliani
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Susanna Branchini (Aida), Mariana Pentcheva (Amneris), Walter Fraccaro (Radames), Alberto Gazale (Amonasro), Carlo Malinverno (Il Re di Egitto), George Andguladze (Ramfis), Cosimo Vassallo (Un messaggiero), Yu Guanqun (Una sacerdotessa)
Teatro Regio di Parma, Antonino Fogliani
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
