Daniele Rustioni is one of the leading conductors of our time and regularly appears on the podium of the world’s foremost orchestras and opera houses.
In September 2025, he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York—only the third in the history of this legendary institution. In April 2026, he was also named Principal Guest Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra. In 2022, Daniele Rustioni was honored as “Best Conductor” at the International Opera Awards.
His musical career began in 1993 as a member of the children’s chorus at La Scala in Milan. He subsequently pursued his studies at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and the Royal Academy of Music in London, United Kingdom.
From 2012 to 2014, he served as Music Director of the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy; from 2014 to 2020, as Chief Conductor of the Orchestra della Toscana. In 2017, he became Chief Conductor and, in 2022, Music Director at the Opéra de Lyon, France. From 2021 to 2023, he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Bavarian State Opera.
Highlights of the 2025/26 season include debuts with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Enescu Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra del Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He also makes his subscription debut with the Cleveland Orchestra and returns to the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
In recent seasons, Daniele Rustioni has given numerous important debuts, including with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In May 2026, he makes his debut at the Vienna State Opera with a new production of Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles, and in October 2026 he returns to La Scala in Milan with a new production of Gounod’s Faust.
In 2024, Daniele Rustioni was named Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic.