Clelia Cafiero
Napa Valley Festival
Cafiero moved through Stravinsky's transcendent tale with attentiveness and command, awakening the audience to the magic of nearby nature.
San Francisco Classical Voice (July 21, 2025)
Cincinnati Opera - Tosca
Italian Conductor Clelia Cafiero impresses in US debut with Tosca. Much of the evening's success must go to the Italian conductor Clelia Cafiero for her leadership with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, in her United States debut. (…) In the orchestra pit, Cafiero brought dramatic intensity and interpretive warmth to every measure of the score.
Cincinnati Business Courier (June 28, 2025) Season 2026/2027
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
Musgrave – Mary, Queen of Scots
Sep 20/24/26/29, Oct 2/4
HAYDN ORCHESTRA
Clyne – Within Her Arms
Brahms – Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 102
Poulenc – Sinfonietta, FP 141
Oct 13 (Bolzano) / Oct 14 (Trento)
-
BBC Philharmonic (Manchester)
Brahms – Tragic Overture
Schubert – Symphony No. 9 (“Great”) explain it to me
Oct 21OPERA DE OVIEDO
Verdi – Macbeth
Nov 13/15/18/21TOKYO NIKIKAI OPERA FOUNDATION
Puccini - La Bohème
Jan 9/14/15/16/17/30ROYAL SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA
Mahler - Blumine
Grieg - Piano Concerto
Wagner - Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
Feb 12/13/14TEATRO LIRICO “GIUSEPPE VERDI” TRIESTE
Colasanti – [World Premiere]
Beethoven – Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)
Feb 24ORCHESTRA SINFONICA DI MILANO
Fauré – Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80
Rota – Divertimento concertante per contrabbasso e orchestra
Strauss – Don Juan, Op. 20
Strauss – Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28
March 5/7THEATRE DES CHAMPS ELYSÉES
ORCHESTRE CHAMBRE DE PARIS
Donizetti - Maria Stuarda
Apr 1OPÉRA NATIONAL DU RHIN
Verdi – Rigoletto
Apr 24/26/28/30, May 2/4SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
Puccini – Tosca
June 4/8/12/17/20/26/29, Jul 2
Biography
The Neapolitan conductor Clelia Cafiero is widely regarded as one of the most exciting conductors of her generation. She first attracted international attention with her acclaimed debut at the Chorégies d’Orange in the summer of 2023, conducting Carmen with the Orchestre National de Lyon, and further enhanced her reputation in April 2025 when she stepped in at short notice to conduct the French version of Don Carlos at the Opéra national de Paris to widespread critical acclaim.
-
The 2026/27 season brings a number of notable engagements across Europe, Asia, and North America. She makes her debut at the San Francisco Opera conducting Thea Mary, Queen of Scots and later returns to the company for Puccini’s Tosca. Further operatic highlights include her debut at Ópera de Oviedo with Verdi’s Macbeth and at the Opéra national du Rhin with Rigoletto. She also returns to the Nikikai Opera Foundation in Tokyo with La bohème and conducts the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris in a concert performance of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
Alongside her operatic engagements, Clelia Cafiero is establishing a strong international presence on the concert stage and returns to the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano and the BBC Philharmonic, while making debut appearances with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Orchestra del Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste.
The previous two seasons were marked by an impressive series of international debuts. In opera, she made her first appearances at the English National Opera (La bohème), the Opéra Royal de Wallonie (La Périchole), the Cincinnati Opera (Tosca), the Nikikai Opera Foundation (Così fan tutte), Opera Australia (Carmen), the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (La bohème), and the Semperoper Dresden (La Traviata). She also returned to the English National Opera to conduct Carmen and a concert programme. In the symphonic repertoire, she made debut appearances with the Orchestre National de France, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and at Festival Napa Valley. Additional highlights included a gala concert with Piotr Beczała and the Polish National Opera Orchestra, as well as a return invitation from the Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie.
From 2022 to 2025, Clelia Cafiero served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Opéra de Tours, where she shaped both its operatic and symphonic programming.
Her previous operatic engagements include Tosca at the Chorégies d’Orange, em>Madama Butterfly at the Opéra de Québec, Carmen and La Traviata at the Opéra de Marseille, Tosca at the Angers Nantes Opéra and the Opéra de Rennes, as well as Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Opéra de Tours. Concert engagements have included appearances with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala, the Orchestre National de Lorraine, and at Festival Radio France.
Clelia Cafiero studied piano and conducting at the conservatories of Naples and Milan, as well as at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, and also holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy.
2026/2027—
Any changes or reductions must be approved by ARSIS Artist Management. Please do not use older material.
