Massimo Zanetti has built an international career that has taken him to many of the world’s foremost opera houses and symphony orchestras. His work embraces both the operatic and symphonic repertoire and is distinguished by stylistic refinement, dramatic insight and a deep affinity for the Italian tradition.
From 1999 to 2002, Zanetti served as Music Director of the Flemish Opera, and from 2018 to 2022 he was Music Director of the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra in South Korea. Under his artistic leadership, the orchestra established itself among South Korea’s leading symphony orchestras while gaining increasing international recognition through ambitious artistic programming and acclaimed performances of the Austro-German, French and Italian repertoire.
His operatic engagements have taken him to many of the world’s leading stages, including the Salzburg Festival Whitsun , the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin , Teatro alla Scala, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Semperoper Dresden, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro Real Madrid, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, the Sydney Opera House, the NCPA Beijing, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opéra, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and many other prestigious international theatres and festivals. His repertoire ranges from the great Italian masters—Verdi, Puccini and Rossini—to Mozart, Wagner, Strauss and Debussy.
As a symphonic conductor, he has collaborated with orchestras including the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the Bruckner Orchester Linz, the Czech Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, and the Russian National Orchestra at the Rostropovich Festival in Moscow, among many others distinguished ensembles worldwide.
His artistry is documented by an extensive discography, including the recent album Invocation with Elsa Dreisig (Erato/Warner Classics), Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (Decca), Rigoletto and I Vespri Siciliani for the acclaimed Tutto Verdi project, Flavio Testi’s Saül with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and The Verdi Album with Sonya Yoncheva (Sony Classical).
July 2026
Photo Credit: Hyperactive Studio
This approved biography is not to be altered or changed without consulting with the management of the artist.