Joseph Rescigno has conducted for more than 50 companies on four continents and has been Music Director of La Musica Lirica since 2005. He has served as Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor of the Florentine Opera Company (Milwaukee, WI) for 38 seasons beginning in 1981 and as Artistic Director of L’Orchestre Metropolitain in Montreal, Quebec for four seasons.
In his permanent and guest engagements, Maestro Rescigno conducts a broad range of repertoire, achieving success with new works like the world premieres of both Minoru Miki’s Jōruriand Don Davis’s Río de Sangre, neglected contemporary works such as Barber’s Vanessa, and a broad range of operas from the standard literature. This range begins with Mozart’s seminal pieces and includes works from Italian composers like Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, and Puccini; romantic French operas of Bizet, Gounod, and Saint Saëns; and works from the German school, including those of Strauss and Wagner. In addition, Maestro Rescigno has conducted symphonies and concertos from the baroque to the modern era—sometimes from the keyboard in works from earlier eras—as well as masterworks of the choral literature.
As a guest artist, Maestro Rescigno has conducted the New York City Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Hungarian State Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Seattle Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Vancouver Opera, Teatro Bellini, l’Opéra de Marseille, and l’Opéra de Montreal among others. The symphony orchestras he has conducted include the Montreal Symphony and the Milwaukee Symphony orchestras, both of which he has conducted in their regular subscription series as well as in opera productions. In addition, he won Quebec’s Prix Opus for a program of all five Beethoven piano concertos with Anton Kuerti at the piano and the Metropolitan Orchestra of Greater Montreal.
Maestro Rescigno’s discography includes two world premieres, Río de Sangre (for Albany Records) and Jōruri (for Toei Video Disk) and two solo operatic albums for Analekta of Canada with Lyne Fortin (Mozart) and Diana Soviero (the highly regarded Verismo). Also for Analekta, he recorded symphonic works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Mendelssohn.
This native New Yorker comes from a long line of musicians on both sides of his family. He trained as a pianist and has been studying and performing music since childhood. His uncle was the prominent conductor Nicola Rescigno, a founder of both the Dallas and Chicago opera companies. He holds a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music and studied with distinguished teachers and composers in the United States and Europe. Maestro Rescigno further apprenticed with eminent conductors and has since been privileged to collaborate with prominent musicians of three generations. “Giving back” ranks high among his interests. He does so by cultivating young talent, as at La Musica Lirica, and popularizing classical music as he does at pre-performance talks. The University of North Texas Press is publishing his first book, Condusting Opera: Where Theater Meets Music, in the spring of 2020.
