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Daniele Rustioni is one of the most compelling conductors of his generation both in opera and orchestral repertoire. In 2022, he was awarded “Best Conductor of the Year” by the International Opera Awards.  

Rustioni has been Music Director of Opéra National de Lyon since September 2017 and became Music Director of the Ulster Orchestra in the United Kingdom in 2022/23 after three seasons as Chief Conductor. In September 2021, he became Principal Guest Conductor of the Bavarian State Opera. Between 2014 and 2020 he was Music Director of the Orchestra della Toscana and served as Artistic Director until January 2023. 

Rustioni has been engaged by all major international opera houses including the Berlin Staatsoper, La Scala, Opéra Bastille, Opernhaus Zürich, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Teatro Real. He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2022 leading a concert performance of Lucia di Lammermoor. He returned to the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden in July 2023 taking over a production of Don Carlo for Daniel Barenboim.   

As Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon, Daniele Rustioni conducts two new productions each season in addition to symphonic programs. He and the opera house are regular guests of the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris – they performed Hérodiade by Massenet in concert version during the 2022/23 season – as well as of the Aix-en-Provence Summer Festival, where they present operas on stage as well as in concert versions. Rustioni opened the 2022/23 season with a new production of Tannhäuser, his first Wagner production and the beginning of a three-year survey of German repertoire, which will include Die Frau ohne Schatten in 2023/24 and Wozzeck in 2024/25. 

Rustioni is a regular presence at the Metropolitan Opera House where he made his debut in April 2017 with Aida and returned in 2021/22 with back-to-back performances of a new production of Rigoletto and a revival of Le Nozze di Figaro. In March 2022/23 he led critically acclaimed performances of a revival of Robert Carsen’s production of Falstaff. He returns to the Met in 2023/24 for the New Year’s Eve Gala and performances of a new production of Carmen directed by Carrie Cracknell. 

Rustioni is in-demand by many of the leading international orchestras. In February 2023, he made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting the MET Orchestra, an honor usually reserved for the Music Director of the MET. His other recent American debuts include the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in April 2023 and Philadelphia Orchestra in January 2022. In the 2023/24 season he will make debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He has many debuts and reengagements with major American orchestras coming in future seasons. 

Rustioni has conducted all the major Italian symphony orchestras, including the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra and the Filarmonica della Scala. His guest conducting engagements have included the London Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and the Hallé Orchestra. 

As Music Director of the Ulster Orchestra, Rustioni has developed significant activities for the ensemble including a European Union tour in May 2022 and an acclaimed performance at the BBC Proms in August 2022. Future plans include recordings and more touring activities. 

Rustioni has made regular appearances in Japan since his debut conducting Madama Butterfly at the Nikkikai Opera in 2014, including performances with the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, the HPAC Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Osaka Philharmonic and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. 

Rustioni’s extensive and varied discography includes Bellini’s Adelson e Salvini for Opera Rara with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Wolf-Ferrari’s Violin Concerto on Deutsche Grammophon with Francesca Dego and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded works by Federico Ghedini, Goffredo Petrassi and Alfredo Casella with the Orchestra della Toscana for Sony Classical. The Opéra National de Lyon and Rustioni’sacclaimed performance of Barry Kosky’s production of The Golden Cockerel was recently released on DVD by Naxos. 

Craig Knox has been principal tuba of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 2005, and holds the Dr. Mary Ann Craig Chair. He previously held positions of acting principal tuba of the San Francisco Symphony, and principal tuba of the Sacramento Symphony. He has also performed with many other major American orchestras, including those of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota and Seattle, and with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande of Geneva, Switzerland. Since 1995, he has spent part of each summer as co-principal tuba of the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson, Wyoming. 

In March 2018, Craig Knox played the world premiere of the Jennifer Higdon Tuba Concerto (a Pittsburgh Symphony co-commission) with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Robert Spano conducting, performances of which the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said, “Mr. Knox played with assurance and complete command of his instrument, providing a convincing case for the solo potential of the tuba.” In 2019 he performed the work again, in Philadelphia's Verizon Hall, with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and Mark Russell Smith conducting. In March 2012, Knox performed the world-premiere performances of Andre Previn's Triple Concerto for Trumpet, Horn and Tuba with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mr. Previn; he performed a reprise as part of the Pittsburgh Symphony's 120th Anniversary Celebration Concert, with Music Director Manfred Honeck conducting. Knox has also performed as a soloist with the U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) in Washington D.C., the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Carnegie Mellon University Wind Ensemble. His solo recording, “A Road Less Traveled”, of music for tuba and piano with Rodrigo Ojeda, was released in 2012. 

Craig Knox is co-founder of the Center City Brass Quintet, which has performed in recitals throughout the United States and Japan. Its six recordings on the Chandos and Octavia labels have met with critical acclaim, the first being described by American Record Guide as “one of the all-time great brass quintet recordings.” He played for several seasons with the Chicago Chamber Musicians Brass Quintet, and has toured with the Empire Brass. In 2008, the Albany label released a recording featuring Knox and his colleagues in the Pittsburgh Symphony low-brass section.  

Craig Knox is Artist Lecturer of Tuba at Carnegie Mellon University, and a faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He regularly presents master classes, seminars and recitals at universities, conservatories and festivals around the world. A native of Storrs, Connecticut, Knox began formal musical studies on the classical guitar at age six. His first tuba teachers included Gary Ofenloch, Samuel Pilafian and Chester Schmitz, and he attended the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Paul Krzywicki, earning a Bachelor of Music degree. He was also a fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. 

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