Gian-Carlo del Monaco, the son of the famous tenor Mario del Monaco.
He made his debut as a stage director in 1965 in Siracusa (Italy) with Samson et Dalila (starring Mario del Monaco).
He started his career in Germany as assistant to Wieland Wagner, Günther Rennert and Walter Felsenstein before assuming the post of principal stage director in Ulm from 1973 to 1976 where he staged some 15 productions.
He was the personal assistant of the General Manager of the Wiener Staatsoper, Rudolf Gamsjäger from 1970 to 1973.
He was the General Manager of the Montepulciano Festival (Italy) in 1975, of the Staatstheater Kassel (Germany) from 1980 to 1982, of the Macerata Festival (Italy) from 1986 to 1988 and the General Manager of the Opera der Bundesstadt Bonn from 1992 to 1997 (becoming the first Italian man in its history to hold the office).From 1997 to 2001, Giancarlo del Monaco was the General Director of the Opera House of Nice (France). From 2009 to 2011, he was the artistic director of the Tenerife Opera Festival.
With his great career as General director, Giancarlo del Monaco becomes one of the most important and sought after stage directors of his generation.
He has staged productions among other theaters, in Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Bologna, Bregenzer Festspiele, Buenos Aires, Catania, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Madrid, München, Milano (La Scala), Montpellier, Napoli, the Metropolitan of New York, Festival d’Orange, Paris, Roma, Savonlinna, Stuttgart, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Venezia, Washington, Wien, Zurich, etc…and collaborated with the most important conductors and stage designers of the operatic world.
Fluently speaking 5 languages, his operatic repertoire contains more than 100 Operas, staged in their original language.
In 1991, he was invited to stage La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera. This was followed by Stiffelio, Madama Butterfly, Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del destino (for which he was honored by the American Institute of Verdi Studies). All of these Met productions were filmed and internationally broadcast (three of them are available as home video and laser-disc).
Giancarlo del Monaco has been the recipient of numerous honors, such as the Viotti d’Oro, the Bundesverdienskreutz 1. Klasse from the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Cavaliere Ufficiale della Repubblica, the Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, the Brasilian Ordem Nacional o Cruzeiro do Sul for the staging of the Brazilian work Il Guarany (1994) in Bonn with Placido Domingo (with whom he shares a 30 year mutual working relationship and friendship) as well as the recording of the work with the Bonn Opera (first in Bonn’s Opera history) on SonyClassics, the title of Honorary Doctor of Cultural Arts of Palm Beach Community College, the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French Minister for Culture, the Premio Illica (1998) for his achievements as director, the title of Citoyen d’Honneur de la Ville de Montpellier and the Aigle de Cristal de la Ville de Nice (2001, France), the Spanish Lyric Award : “Premios Liricos Teatro Campoamor” (2008), for the production “Cavalleria Rusticana”, P. Mascagni and “I Pagliacci”, R. Leoncavallo, at the”Teatro Real”, Madrid. He receives the title of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, France, in 2015.
Several television productions about Giancarlo del Monaco have been made, including a 90 minutes program on German television. Many of his productions have been shown as Worldvision and Eurovision broadcasts.
Giancarlo del Monaco has four daughters : Stella, Fedora, Alessandra and Laura.
