Biography

Recognised as one of the leading opera directors of his generation, Alessandro Talevi was born in Johannesburg. He studied music and history of art at the University of the Witwatersrand and piano accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He lives in Turin.

In demand across the world for his inventive and imaginative style, recent work includes Der Fliegende Holländer (Gothenburg Opera), Il Paese dei Campanelli (Festival della Valle d'Itria), Le Nozze di Figaro (Teatro Comunale di Bologna), three different productions of La Traviata (Teatro Comunale di Bologna / Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv / Opera North, UK), I Pagliacci (Macerata Opera Festival), Alcina (Saarländisches Staatstheater), Eugene Onegin (Santa Fe Opera), Hänsel und Gretel (Cape Town Opera), The Turn of the Screw and Don Giovanni (Opera North, UK), The Love for Three Oranges (Opera Philadelphia), Rigoletto (Korea National Opera), Margherita d'Anjou and Crispino e la Comare (Valle d'Itria Festival), Histoire du Soldat, Albert Herring and L'amour des trois oranges (all three for the Maggio Musicale, Florence), La Cenerentola (Teatro Regio di Torino), Idomeneo (Teatro La Fenice), Anna Bolena (Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo), Roberto Devereux (Teatro Real, Madrid), Tosca (Opera di Roma), Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro and Amadigi di Gaula (Central City Opera, Colorado), Anna Bolena and Roberto Devereux (both for Welsh National Opera) and La Cenerentola (Malmö Opera). Talevi was artistic director of Independent Opera at Sadler's Wells.

Upcoming productions in 2024 include Don Giovanni (Teatro Comunale di Bologna) and Turandot (Teatro Massimo, Palermo).