Federico Cortese
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Federico Cortese is an Italian conductor, born in Rome. From the moment of his debut in September 1998, stepping in at short notice to conduct Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in place of an indisposed Seiji Ozawa, Federico Cortese’s work as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony was widely praised. Serving in that position from 1998-2002, Mr. Cortese led the Boston Symphony several times in Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood. His conducting of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly was particularly heralded.
Additionally, he has served as Music Director of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras since 1999. Other appointments include Music Director and Associate Conductor of the Spoleto Festival in Italy; Assistant Conductor to Daniele Gatti at the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and Assistant Conductor to Robert Spano at the Brooklyn Philharmonic.
Federico Cortese has conducted operatic and symphonic engagements throughout the United States, Australia and Europe. Recent engagements in the US include the Dallas, Atlanta, San Antonio and New World Symphonies plus conducting operatic productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Boston Lyric Opera and Puccini’s La Bohème with Opera Theater of St. Louis. In Europe, his opera experience includes conducting productions of Verdi’s Il Trovatore in Parma, Italy as part of the Verdi’s Centennial Festival; Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Spoleto Festival in Italy; Niccolò Piccini’s La Bella Verità at the Teatro Comunale with the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Florentino and a new production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte with the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki.
He has also enjoyed recent successes guest conducing the BBC Scottish Symphony and the Slovenian Philharmonic. In Australia, he has conducted the Tasmania and Queensland Orchestras, Madam Butterfly for Opera Australia in Melbourne, the West Australia Symphony Orchestra and last year made his debut with the Sydney Symphony.
In 2005 he joined New England String Ensemble as Conductor and was named Music Director in 2006.
Federico Cortese studied composition and conducting at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome and subsequently studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. In addition, he has been a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. In addition to music, Mr. Cortese studied literature, humanities and law, earning a law degree from La Sapienza University in Rome.
