Riccardo Frizza, Musical Director and Artistic Director of the Bergamo Donizetti Opera Festival and Honorary Conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir, is among the leading conductors of his generation, regularly collaborating with major international opera houses.
In the past season, he conducted La fanciulla del West and Un ballo in maschera at Teatro Comunale di Bologna, La favorite at ABAO Bilbao Opera, and Roberto Devereux, Medea and Partenope at Teatro di San Carlo, Naples. He also led La sonnambula at the Metropolitan Opera, Caterina Cornaro at the Donizetti Opera Festival, and appeared in symphonic concerts with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna.
In 2026, Frizza marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of his conducting career, which began with a New Year’s concert in Barcelona bringing together the orchestras of the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Teatro La Fenice—two ensembles with which he has maintained a longstanding collaboration. He returns to Naples for three symphonic concerts and performances of Nabucco, Mitridate, re di Ponto and Aida (in concert). Further engagements include Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and I puritani at the Royal Ballet and Opera.
During the same year, he conducts concerts in Budapest with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, in Palermo with the Orchestra del Teatro Massimo, and in Gothenburg with the Göteborg Opera Orchestra, as well as touring the Basque Country with the Euskadiko Orchestra.
In February 2026, the album Italian Perspectives (Pentatone), recorded with the Bamberger Symphoniker and featuring works by Martucci, Rachmaninoff and Respighi, was released.
On 2 June 2024, he was appointed Cavaliere al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella.