Gerard Floriano |
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Gerard Floriano, conductor Emerging American conductor Gerard Floriano is equally accomplished in both the operatic and orchestral arenas. As Co-Artistic Director of Mercury Opera Rochester, Dr. Floriano led the company’s fall 2007 production of Copland’s The Tender Land and the now traditional Amahl and the Night Visitors in December 2007. Also for Mercury Opera Rochester, Dr. Floriano conducted Jerome Kern’s theatrical masterpiece Show Boat, Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail in the company’s 2006 - 2007 season and Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz and Donizetti's Elixir of Love in the inaugural season. As Artistic Director of Rochester Opera Factory, he led the rise of this ambitious company, conducting full-scale critically acclaimed performances of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, and Puccini's Suor Angelica. As Resident Conductor at the Brevard Summer Music Festival, in the summer of 2007 he conducted a production of Bernstein’s Candide with the Janiec Opera Company. Writing about L'Amico Fritz, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle's music critic John Pitcher wrote "Floriano proved to be nothing less than a virtuoso conductor… He led his fine orchestra with color, precision and a welcome degree of sweep... ushering in a New Age of Good Opera” in western New York. In December of 2005, Dr. Floriano led the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in holiday concerts throughout the area and in March 2006 made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut with the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra. A regular guest conductor in Europe, Dr. Floriano has led performances in Krakow, Warsaw, Prague, Barcelona, Florence and Leipzig. He recently conducted the Orchestra di Vicenza and opera chorus and soloists of The Venice Opera in a spectacular performance of Mozart’sRequiem, which was hailed by Il Giornale di Vicenza as “…powerfully wrought and imbued with emotion.” Dr. Floriano is acclaimed as an innovative programmer and dedicated educational conductor. With the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, he leads an annual educational series of concerts entitled "Stars of Today with the Stars of Tomorrow." Audiences both young and old have enthusiastically received his children's concerts entitled "Music from Around the World and Hogwarts", "Professor Poof's Magical Musical Ride", and “Time Traveler Rocks New Musical Frontiers,” all of which have been premiered at the Brevard Summer Music Festival. Under his leadership, the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra has become a premiere training orchestra for the most talented young musicians in western NY. This esteemed ensemble has been invited to perform at both Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City. Dr. Floriano is Director of Choral Activities at SUNY Geneseo. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music with Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in conducting. |