ERMANNO FLORIO, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Ermanno Florio has impressed both audiences and critics in major centers in Europe, North America, and Asia since he began his conducting career in 1977. The extremely versatile Mr. Florio has well distinguished himself in genres of symphonic, operatic, and balletic repertoire. Among major North American orchestras he has conducted are the Montreal Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. He has received high acclaim for opera and ballet performances in Italy (Teatro alla Scala, Rome Opera), England (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), France (L’Opera National de Paris), and Holland (Dutch National Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater) as well  as the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City and The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.  Mr. Florio maintains an active schedule which has included extensive engagements in such diverse locations as London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Milan, Rome, Florence, Tokyo, Geneva, Shanghai, and Beijing.

In 1985, Mr. Florio was appointed conductor and music administrator of the National Ballet of Canada by Erik Bruhn and since 1992 has held the position of music director of Houston Ballet. From 1998 to 2001, he served as music director of American Ballet Theatre in New York. In March 2004, Mr. Florio was appointed music director of Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam.

Mr. Florio’s DVD releases include the critically acclaimed performances of Onegin, The Merry Widow, The Sleeping Beauty, Alice, La Ronde, and Le Corsaire which won the 2000 Emmy for Outstanding Classical Program in the Performing Arts.  Mr. Florio’s DVD recording of Don Quixote with L’Orchestre de L’Opera National de Paris also won the 2004 Cannes Classical Music Award for Best DVD in the category of Concert and Ballet Recordings.

Headshot by Tony Hauser