Riccardo Chailly, a renowned Italian conductor, was born in 1953 in Milan, Italy. He began his musical journey by studying at the Conservatories of Perugia, Rome, and Milan, as well as at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana.
Chailly's professional career started as an assistant to the esteemed Claudio Abbado at La Scala in Milan. His early success led to his appointment as Music Director of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1980. After a successful tenure of eight years, he moved to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam in 1988, where he remained for an impressive sixteen years.
In 2005, Chailly took the reins as head of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, a position he held until 2016. During this period, he also became the Music Director of La Scala in Milan in 2015. Since the summer of 2016, Chailly has been the Music Director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.
Throughout his illustrious career, Chailly has had the privilege of conducting some of the world's leading orchestras, including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre de Paris, to name a few. In the United States, he has worked with esteemed ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
As an opera conductor, Chailly has performed at some of the world's most prestigious opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London, Zurich Opera, the Bavarian and Vienna Staatsoper companies, Chicago Lyric Opera, and San Francisco Opera.
Chailly's extensive discography boasts over 150 recordings, earning him numerous awards and accolades. His recording of Brahms' symphonies was chosen as Recording of the Year by Gramophone magazine in 2014. He has also received two Echo Klassik Awards in 2012 and 2015.
Throughout his career, Chailly has been recognized with several honors and awards, including being appointed a Grand'Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana, Cavaliere di Gran Croce, and a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. He was also made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1996 and an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 2011.
