San Diego Opera debut. Italian conductor Renato Palumbo was only 16 when he conducted Haydn’s Theresienmesse and made his operatic debut at the age of 19 conducting Il trovatore. Among the many opera house to which his career has taken him are La Scala in Milan, Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Berlin, Tokyo, Bilbao, Barcelona, Genoa, Turin, Parma, Rome, Verona, Venice, Florence, Bologna, Palermo and recently the Lyric Opera of Chicago where he conducted Ernani. He is well known for his interpretations of the works of Rossini, Marschner, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Meyerbeer, Puccini and Giordano. His work as a symphonic conductor ranges from Viennese classicism to Hindemith, passing through the big Romantic and pre-Romantic German repertoire, as well as Dvoràk, Grieg and Tchaikovsky. In 2009 he conducted Turandot to open the new Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, rebuilt after the fire of 1991. He has been decorated with Italy’s Cavaliere della Repubblica for his artistic contributions. His extensive recording catalogue includes Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable and Les Huguenots, Rossini’s Bianca e Falliero and Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and Il Corsaro.