Daniele Rustioni, 36, is one of the most compelling conductors of both opera and symphonic works of his generation. In the 2017–18 season, Rustioni began his tenure as Principal Conductor of Opéra National de Lyon. He is also the Principal Conductor of the Orchestra della Toscana, a position he has held since 2011. Rustioni was appointed Chief Conductor of Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Northern Ireland in January 2019; he begins his tenure with the Orchestra in September 2019.
Rustioni is in-demand worldwide as a versatile conductor of symphonic music. In January 2019, Rustioni made his American orchestral conducting debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Rustioni’s international orchestral engagements in the 2018–2019 season included Philharmonia Zürich’s season opening concert, return appearances with the Ulster Orchestra, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Hallé Orchestra; debuts with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Kärntner Sinfonieorchester in Klagenfurt, and at the Concertgebouw conducting the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest. In March 2019, Rustioni led the Orchestra della Toscana on a three-city tour of Austria and Germany. In the Summer 2019, Rustioni again conducts the Orchestra della Toscana at the Stresa Festival.
Since his debut conducting Madama Butterfly at the Nikikai Opera in 2014, Rustioni has made regular appearances in Japan, including performances with the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. In May 2018, he returned to Japan for concerts with the Osaka Philharmonic and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
In October 2018, Rustioni began his second season as Principal Conductor of Opéra National de Lyon with a new production of Boïto’s Mefistofele directed by Alex Ollé, and continued with Verdi’s Nabucco, and Tchaikovsky’s seldom-performed The Enchantress in a new production by Andriy Zholdak. Rustioni inaugurated his first season with the company conducting a new staging of Britten’s War Requiem in October 2017, and productions of Verdi’s Macbeth, the five-act version of Don Carlos, and a concert performance of Atilla as part of the Opéra National de Lyon’s Verdi Festival in Spring 2018. Rustioni has been engaged by many of the major international opera houses including Bayerische Staatsoper, La Scala, Teatro Regio Torino, Teatro La Fenice, Royal Opera House London, Opernhaus Zürich, Oper Stuttgart and Opéra Bastille. In April 2017, he made his critically acclaimed debut at the Metropolitan Opera, which immediately invited him for future engagements. In April 2019, Rustioni made his debut with the Teatro Real Madrid conducting Laurent Pelly’s new production of Verdi’s Falstaff.
Rustioni's extensive and varied discography includes Bellini’s Adelson e Salvini for Opera Rara with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the premiere recording of Wolf-Ferrari’s Violin Concerto on Deutsche Grammophon with Francesca Dego and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. A multi-year three recording project with Sony Classical dedicated to the works of the 20th-century Italian symphonic and opera composers includes releases of music by Federico Ghedini, Goffredo Petrassi and Alfredo Casella.
In 2013, Rustioni received the International Opera Award for Best Newcomer of the Year.