Born in Verona in 1987, Andrea Battistoni is one of the rising young talents on the international music scene. He holds the positions of Principal Conductor of the Teatro Carlo Felice of Genova, Arena di Verona and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2006, he has conducted in major opera houses, including the Deutsche Oper of Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera of Munich, Semperoper of Dresden, Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg, Palau de les arts of Valencia, the Royal Opera of Stockholm, and in his native Italy, he has led performances at the Arena di Verona, Teatro San Carlo of Naples, Parco della Musica of Rome, Teatro La Fenice of Venice, Teatro Verdi of Trieste, Teatro Lirico of Cagliari and Teatro Massimo of Palermo. In the concert hall he has led the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, La Scala Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. At the age of 24, he became the youngest conductor ever to conduct at La Scala of Milan. He believes passionately that Art belongs to everybody and often brings this message to wide audiences outside concert halls and opera theatres: he conducted the La Scala Philharmonic in the Forum Assago in Milan in front of 8,000 people and led the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI at the Piazza Castello in Turin for an audience of over 25,000. In 2012, his first book Non èÌ musica per vecchi (It Isn’t Music for the Old) was published. Andrea Battistoni began his musical education at the age of seven and studied with Gabriele Ferro, Gianandrea Noseda and Maurizio Barbacini. He graduated from the Verona Conservatory with a degree in Composition and has had many of his symphonic, chamber and theatre works performed across Europe.