Born in Lecce, Eliseo Castrignanò studied conducting under the guidance of Fabrizio DORSI, Piero BELLUGI, Bruno APREA and Nicola SAMALE. He took specialized courses at the foundation I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, master classes at the Scuola di musica di Fiesole, and continued his education at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen in courses led by Markus LEHTINEN and Jorma PANULA. He received his Master's Degree in Orchestral Conducting at the Umberto Giordano Conservatory of Foggia with Donato RENZETTI, Bruno BARTOLETTI, Lu JIA, Lior SHAMBADAL, who unanimously awarded him a scholarship for being best of class.

 

Eliseo’s conducting debut was hailed by critics as one of the most promising of the new Italian music scene. The musicologist Alessandro Macchia said (He is a) “…refined musician and indefatigable chaser of sound, able to consider the current tradition while passionately proposing new repertoire."

 

The repertoire ranges from Benjamin Britten to Manuel de Falla, from Johann Sebastian Bach to Michael Nyman (Eliseo conducted the Italian premiere Nyman’s Symphony no. 2). Furthermore, he conducted the Soloists of Accademia del Teatro alla Scala, the Choir and Orchestra of the Bergamo Musica Festival for the 214th anniversary of the birth of Gaetano Donizetti, and recently debuted at "Teatro Petruzzelli" in Bari with a special concert dedicated to the composer Silvestro Sasso on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth.

 

As guest conductor, he worked with Orchestra del Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Orchestra Sinfonica ICO Tito Schipa in Lecce, Orchestra della Provincia di Bari (with whom he performed world premieres of religious compositions by Scardicchio and Maiellari), Orchestra Nuova Cameristica in Milan, Vincenzo Galilei Orchestra of Fiesole, Orchestra della Magna Grecia in Taranto, Florence Symphonietta, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen, Radio Orchestra of Athens, Kapu Calls Orchestra in Helsinki, Bourgas Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra Giovanile G. B. Sammartini in Lecce.

 

Roberto Cappello recently invited him to tour with the Orchestra del Conservatorio di Parma at Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti in Modena and at the Auditorium Sala Verdi in Milan. During the tour, Eliseo conducted a monographic program about George Gershwin, which brought him public and critical acclaim. 

In 2015 he debuted at “Teatro Regio” in Parma on the occasion of Festival Verdi, where he conducted the International Competition Voci Verdiane Città di Busseto winners’ concert, performing both operatic and symphonic repertoire.

He has also conducted several works of Italian operatic repertoire, including Aida (Cluj Orchestra), Madama Butterfly (Orchestra Sinfonica ICO Tito Schipa”), Pagliacci (Kiev Orchestra), Cavalleria rusticana, The Barber of Seville, Tosca, and a few other opera concerts during the Traditional Opera Season 2011, organized by the Province of Lecce. 

He recently made his debut in Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” and "The Nutcracker" collaborating with “Balletto del Sud” ballet and choreographer Fredy Franzutti.

 

Working for years with prestigious opera houses in Italy and abroad were fundamental for Eliseo Castrignanò’s musical training. He worked as Maestro Sostituto and prompter at Teatro Lirico Sperimentale A. Belli in Spoleto, Teatro Grande in Brescia, Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo. He worked as Chorus Master and Stage Music Director at Teatro Politeama Greco in Lecce, Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu (China), Auditori of Barcelona, Bunka Kaikan theatre in Tokyo, Teatro Arena in Prague and “Rossini in Wildbad Festival” in Germany.

 

He has collaborated with many artists such as Roberto Cappello, Benedetto Lupo, Beatrice Rana, Leo An, Linda Campanella, Clarissa Costanzo, Paata Burchuladze, Roberto De Candia, Domenico Colaianni, Dario Di Vietri, Valeria Esposito, Raùl Giménez, Enrico Iori, Gregory Kunde, Bruno Praticò, Désirée Rancatore, Lorenzo Regazzo, Katia Ricciarelli, Dimitra Theodossiou, Oleg Caetani, Marcello Panni, Marcello Rota.

 

He records for Naxos and is currently Music Director of the “ORPHEO Ensemble” in Salento.