Francesco Milioto |
The Chicago Tribune names Francesco Milioto “one of the best young conductors working in the Chicago area.” Since his debut in the Chicago area just over a decade ago he now balances a busy career conducting a wide range of orchestral and operatic repertoire while maintaining a full schedule as a pianist and vocal coach. He currently holds the positions of Co-founder/Conductor of the New Millennium Orchestra, Music Director of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Chicago Cultural Center Summer Opera, Principal Conductor of the Highland Park Strings and Artistic Director/Conductor of Access Contemporary Music. Mr. Milioto is an assistant conductor/rehearsal pianist/prompter for the Ravinia Festival, where he works closely with Maestro James Conlon. He also works as first assistant conductor at Los Angeles Opera. During both the 2009 and 2010 Chicago Opera Theater seasons he served as an assistant conductor/rehearsal pianist, and also chorus master. Mr. Milioto makes regular appearances as a guest conductor with Opera Elgin and Opera on the James in Lynchburg, VA.
As an opera conductor, Mr. Milioto has led nine productions to critical acclaim at the Chicago Cultural Center, which include Le Nozze di Figaro, Candide, Dido and Aeneas, The Magic Flute, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges. He led the Cultural Center’s most recent production of Acis and Galatea from the harpsichord which had its final performance at the prestigious Pritzker Pavillion in Chicago’s Millennium Park. He also recently made his conducting debut with Opera Southwest in their 2011 production of Verdi's La Taviata. Mr. Milioto has conducted five productions in Virginia with Opera on the James, and led several gala concerts and productions with Opera Elgin in collaboration with the New Millennium Orchestra.
As an assistant conductor and rehearsal pianist at the Ravinia Festival he has been involved in seven operas and various other orchestral and vocal projects working alongside Daniel Barenboim (2004) and James Conlon (2005-present). In addition to working along side great conductors at Ravinia, Mr. Milioto has also had the opportunity to work with world-class artists such as Placido Domingo, Kiri te Kanawa, Samuel Ramey, Lynn Harrell, James Galway, Patricia Racette, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ana Maria Martinez, and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo.
Last season marked his debut as first assistant conductor at Los Angeles Opera where he worked on a production of Verdi's Rigoletto. This season Mr. Milioto will assist Maestro Patrick Summers on LAO's production of Puccini's La Boheme. He has also worked at Chicago Opera Theater as an assistant conductor/rehearsal pianist for both Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers (featuring Frederica von Stade), and Peter Brook’s version of Bizet’s Carmen, before returning to work as an assistant conductor and chorus master for Rossini’s Mosé in Egitto.
