Now considered as one of the most eclectic interpreter of recent years, Michele had his debut at Covent Garden Linbury Theatre conducting Mozart Bastien und Bastienne and a staged version of Berios's Folk Songs. He then appeared at the Berlin State Opera for a new production of Le nozze di Figaro directed by Jürgen Flimm, gaining great success from the audience and critic alike.
After his assistantships with Antonio Pappano and Daniel Barenboim, he is invited to conduct for several important theaters and orchestras in Europe. After his debut at Milan Teatro alla Scala in 2016 he has developped a strong collaboration with the famous opera house and orchestra, which led him to conduct seven productions in the past few years: the world premiere Madina by Fabio Vacchi, the Opening Gala A riveder le stelle in 2020, L'elisir d'amore, Le nozze di Figaro, an all-Schumann recital and Schubert Winterreise with baritone Markus Werba and the highly acclaimed new production of Rigoletto staged by renowned Italian director Mario Martone.
He was invited to Dresden Semperoper to conduct Die Zauberflöte for the production which marked the reopening of the theatre after the pandemic. Other recent engagements have seen him regularly on the podium of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (for several symphonic concerts and a new production of Linda di Chamounix directed by Cesare Lievi), Hamburg State Opera (Le nozze di Figaro), Stuttgart (La bohème and La sonnambula), Strasbourg Opera (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Toulouse Capitole (Macbeth), Tel Aviv Opera (Idomeneo and a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro directed by David Pountney). At Rome Opera and Berlin Deutsche Oper he has conducted Rigoletto, at Turin Regio Aida. Last Season he opened the Washington National Opera with Il trovatore and had his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with L’elisir d’amore and a concert, gaining important recognition from the international critic.
Particularly active in the symphonic repertoire and with a deep interest for new music, Michele has often conducted orchestras and ensembles like Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Duisburger Philharmoniker, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Divertimento Ensemble, Slovenian Philharmonic. He has opened the 2019 edition of Milano Musica Festival and has closed the 2021 series, conducting a broad variety of new commissions by composers like Francesconi, Saunders, Vacchi, Reich, Adès, Poppe, offering programmes inspired by cultural curiosity and refinement, pairing great authors from nowadays to classics of the XX century Avantgarde, like Boulez, Zimmermann and Xenakis.
Performing at the piano remains a true necessity for him - he keeps collaborating with many chamber music partners at Munich Gasteig, London Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie. Out now is the brand new cd Correspondences with cellist Martina Rudić, which offers fascinating parallels between Bach, Berio and Boulez.
Future engagements include a new production of Cherubini’s Médée at La Scala, the Puccini celebrations with the Rai National Symphony Orchestra and a new project by Marco Momi for Milano Musica, in collaboration with IRCAM.
Michele Gamba was born in Milan where he completed his musical studies at Conservatorio "G. Verdi" and read Philosophy at Milan State University, with a dissertation on Hannah Arendt - The human condition. He subsequently attended piano masterclasses with Maria Tipo at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, studied chamber music at the Royal Academy in London and orchestral conducting at Accademia Chigiana di Siena and Vienna Musikhochschule.
web-site: www.michelegamba.com