Born in Morbegno (Sondrio) in 1991, Lorenzo Passerini graduated in trombone from the Como Conservatory in 2009. In 2014, he obtained a second-level academic degree from the Aosta Conservatory. As a trombonist, he has toured worldwide under the direction of conductors including John Axelrod, Andrey Boreyko, Fabio Luisi and Riccardo Muti.
In 2010, Lorenzo Passerini began studying orchestral conducting with Maestro Ennio Nicotra, attending masterclasses and lessons with John Axelrod, Massimiliano Caldi, Gilberto Serembe, Pietro Mianiti, Oleg Caetani and Antonio Eros Negri.
Passerini’s conducting career began in December 2011, when he conducted the Orchestra Antonio Vivaldi, which he founded together with composer Piergiorgio Ratti.
In 2016, he made his debut as a guest conductor with the Orchestra ICO della Magna Grecia and the Orchestra Regionale Filarmonia Veneta.
The following year, he conducted the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, the Orchestra of the Fondazione Arena di Verona, the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, the Romanian National Opera Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, the Camerata Musica Wien, the Symphony Orchestra of the State of Mexico and the Milano Chamber Orchestra.
Since 2015, he has worked regularly with Maestro Nicola Luisotti. In autumn 2018, Lorenzo was Maestro Luisotti’s assistant for Puccini’s Turandot at the Teatro Real in Madrid. In the same year, he returned to conduct the Orchestra of the Fondazione Arena di Verona, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and the Orchestra Sinfonica Metropolitana di Bari, and conducted the DITTO Orchestra on a tour of South Korea with soprano Sumi Jo.
During the 2019/20 Season, he conducted the State Symphony Orchestra Novaya Rossiya at the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow with soprano Nadine Sierra, the Concerto all’Alba at the Ravello Festival with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Salerno, Tosca at the Teatro Regio di Torino, stepping in for Daniel Oren, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw, and a gala concert with tenor Francesco Demuro at the Teatro dell’Opera di Sassari. He concluded the Season at the Sydney Opera House conducting Gounod’s Faust.
The 2020/21 Season opened for Lorenzo Passerini at the Teatro Real in Madrid with Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, sharing the podium with Nicola Luisotti. He conducted the Filarmonica Toscanini Orchestra in Parma and appeared in Genoa with the Orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice. He conducted Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, made his debut at the Teatro de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria with Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and conducted Aida at the Sydney Opera House.
The 2021/22 Season opened for Maestro Passerini at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb with Puccini’s La Rondine. He then returned to the podium of the Sydney Opera House for Puccini’s La Bohème and made his debut at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples with Bellini’s La Sonnambula, alongside Jessica Pratt and Francesco Demuro. He subsequently conducted Giordano’s Fedora at Oper Frankfurt, a gala concert with soprano Nadine Sierra at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, another gala with Sierra and tenor Xabier Anduaga at the Konzerthaus Dortmund, and Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen. At the Savonlinna Opera Festival, he conducted Puccini’s Tosca with Matthew Polenzani and Ludovic Tézier. He concluded the Season with a gala concert alongside soprano Pretty Yende at the Turku Festival in Finland.
The 2022/23 Season began for Maestro Passerini with Puccini’s La Bohème at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and at Oper Köln. He then conducted Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, with Nadine Sierra, Pene Pati and Ludovic Tézier, Bellini’s Norma at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera Las Palmas, with Jessica Pratt. He also returned to the Polish National Opera in Warsaw with Orff’s Carmina Burana. At the end of the Season, he made his debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris with La Bohème.
The 2023/24 Season opened with two gala concerts alongside soprano Pretty Yende and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, followed by his debut in Roméo et Juliette at ABAO Bilbao Opera, with Nadine Sierra and Javier Camarena in the leading roles. He conducted Aida in Brisbane for Opera Australia and made his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Il Barbiere di Siviglia, which he subsequently conducted at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro during the same Season. Early 2024 saw performances of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Staatsoper Hamburg, Les pêcheurs de perles at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and his return to the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples with Norma. He subsequently made his debut with the Canadian Opera Company with Medea, alongside Sondra Radvanovsky and Matthew Polenzani in the leading roles. He made his United States debut at Cincinnati Opera with La Traviata and conducted a gala concert with Pretty Yende and Artur Ruciński in Dortmund.
The 2024/25 Season opened with Maestro Passerini’s debut at Houston Grand Opera with La Cenerentola, followed by Luisa Miller in Hamburg and I Puritani at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, with Jessica Pratt and Lisette Oropesa. In January 2025, he made his debut at the Wiener Staatsoper, conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker in La Bohème. He then returned to Las Palmas with Le Villi and Il Tabarro and made his debut at the Liceu in Barcelona with La Sonnambula. He concluded the Season with Stiffelio in Dortmund and Macbeth in Savonlinna.
The 2025/26 Season opened with a gala concert with Jonathan Tetelman in Essen and La forza del destino in Bilbao. In December 2025, he conducted a gala concert in Bologna and a Christmas concert in Paris, both with Pretty Yende, followed on 1 January 2026 by the New Year’s Concert at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. During 2026, he conducted Norma in Paris, Madama Butterfly in Frankfurt, Aida in Riga with Marina Rebeka, Elīna Garanča and Ludovic Tézier, Carmen in Dresden, and Werther in Naples with Jonas Kaufmann. In July 2026, he made his debut at the Royal Opera House in London with La Bohème.
His engagements for the 2026/27 Season include revivals of Carmen and La Bohème at the Semperoper Dresden, a new production of Manon Lescaut at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with Roberto Alagna and Ailyn Pérez, Norma at the Wiener Staatsoper, Le nozze di Figaro and Turandot at the Cincinnati Opera Festival, and L’elisir d’amore with the Canadian Opera Company. Also scheduled are a Gala Concert with Ludovic Tézier in Riga, a Gala Concert with Jonathan Tetelman and Marina Monzo at the Philharmonie Essen, as well as two symphonic concerts, one with the Balearic Symphony Orchestra and another with the Orchestra of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.
Since September 2024, Lorenzo Passerini has been Chief Conductor of the Jyväskylä Sinfonia in Finland, with which he conducts six symphonic concerts each Season.
He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Orchestra Antonio Vivaldi (Italy), since its foundation in December 2011.
He is represented worldwide by manager Gianluca Macheda (GM Art & Music).