Giordano Bellincampi

In February 2024, the Auckland Philharmonia announced that Maestro Bellincampi’s contract had been extended; he will continue as its Music Director until the end of 2027. This is the third extension to Bellincampi’s contract and will represent a total of 12 years in the position, the longest tenure of any of the orchestra’s Music Directors in its 44-year history.

Recent highlights with the Auckland Philharmonia have included a complete cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies to celebrate the composer’s 250th anniversary, a gala performance to celebrate the renaming of Auckland’s Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, and a performance of a new horn concerto by Hans Abrahamsen, co-commissioned with the Berlin Philharmonic. He also conducted the New Zealand premiere of Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt, the latest in a sequence of annual concertante opera performances that have seen the orchestra undertake a varied repertoire including Verdi’s Aida and Otello, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut.

Recently, Bellincampi also made his debuts with the Queensland Symphony and Florida’s Jacksonville Symphony, returned to conduct symphonic programs with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, the Toledo Symphony, Canada’s Victoria Symphony, the Tasmanian Symphony, the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana. Previous years have also seen acclaimed gala performances of Wagner’s operatic and orchestral music with the Duisburg Philharmonic to mark the re-opening of the orchestra’s home in Duisburg’s Mercatorhalle, as well as a visit to Amsterdam’s legendary Concertgebouw Hall, in repertoire by Nielsen, Sibelius, and Beethoven.

Previously, Bellincampi was the Principal Conductor of I Pomeriggi Musicali, Milan, Chief Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra from 2013 – 2018, General Music Director of the Duisburg Philharmonic from 2012 – 2017, General Music Director of the Danish National Opera, Aarhus from 2005 – 2013, Music Director of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra from 2000 – 2006 and, between 1997 – 2000, he was also Chief Conductor of the Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen, the leading contemporary ensemble in Denmark.

Bellincampi has excelled in the field of opera since making his debut with the Royal Opera in Copenhagen with La Boheme in 2000. He has since then conducted many of the great Italian works at the Royal Opera with a particular focus on Puccini and Verdi, including leading their acclaimed new production of Aida at the opening of their new theatre in 2005. He has also appeared extensively with Deutsche Oper am Rhein, conducting such titles as Luisa Miller, Norma and Cavalleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci. Whilst Music Director of the Danish National Opera, Bellincampi conducted works such as Der Rosenkavalier, Der Fliegende Holländer, Tristan und Isolde, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte. He also maintains close connections with many of the world’s leading opera singers including Angela Gheorghiu, Joseph Calleja, and Roberto Alagna, regularly working with them in orchestral galas and recitals, as well as being a much-requested accompanist by leading instrumentalists such as Sarah Chang and Angela Hewitt.

Bellincampi’s extensive discography includes Ross Harris’s 6^th symphony for Naxos with the Auckland Philharmonia, numerous recordings for the Da Capo and Marco Polo labels of Danish composers from the classical era through to the present day including Holmboe, Lumbye, Joachim Andersen, Per Norgard, Ole Schmidt and Ib Glindemann, and the premiere recording of Weyse’s opera Sovedrikken, as well as Italian opera arias with Liping Zhang and the Prague Philharmonia, and Nielsen’s Third Symphony for EMI Classics, and works by Svendsen and Walton. With the Duisburg Philharmonic, he released Nielsen’s Violin Concerto with soloist Kolja Blacher.

Born in Italy and moving to Copenhagen at a young age, he began his career as a trombonist with the Royal Danish Orchestra before making his professional conducting debut in 1994. As Associate Professor at the Royal Danish Academy, Giordano Bellincampi is dedicated to the work of educating the coming generations of orchestra musicians and conductors, and he also regularly gives masterclasses and serves as a jury member for several international conducting competitions. In 2010, he was created a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog, an award bestowed by the Danish Royal Family for services to Danish culture, and he also holds the title of Cavaliere from the President of Italy for his international promotion of Italian music.