Gianandrea Noseda receives Puccini award

Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda has been awarded the Puccini Award by the Puccini Festival Foundation. Noseda received the prize last week at a Festival concert held at Puccini's birthplace, Torre del Lago, where he led the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in the final performance of the orchestra’s tour.

Since 1971 the award has been awarded annually to those who have made a significant contribution to the ‘cultural growth and the safeguarding and development of the historical and contemporary heritage of musical theatre.’ Noseda joins a legacy of award winners including Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, Birgit Nilsson, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Luciano Pavarotti, Jonas Kaufmann, and Angela Gheorghiu.

Accepting his award, Noseda said:‘Puccini has always fascinated me for his unique ability to take the opera form from the great tradition of the 19th century to the modernity of the 20th century with amazing cultural curiosity and wisdom. His quality as a composer of incredible talent can be immediately detected zooming in and out from masterworks like Manon Lescaut and Il Trittico: works very different from each other that mark the passage, without tears, from late-romantic feeling to full twentieth century modernity.’

Currently music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, general music director of the Zurich Opera House, and principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Noseda conducted many of Puccini's operas during his 11-year tenure as music director of the Teatro Regio Torino. He adds this latest award to a long list of accolades including Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, Musical America’s Conductor of the Year 2015 and International Opera Awards Conductor of the Year 2016.