Charles Olivieri-Munroe
Charles Olivieri-Munroe is one of today’s most distinguished and much-travelled conductors. Of the world’s major orchestras. he has conducted the Israel Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Sydney Symphony, the Berlin DSO Orchestra, Munich Symphony, Danish Radio Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, National Hungarian Philharmonic and many others. With a regular presence in the Asia Pacific region, he frequently leads concerts in Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam and Thailand.
World class soloists with whom Charles Olivieri Munroe has worked include Angela Gheorghiu, Krystian Zimerman, Joshua Bell, Maxim Vengerov, Sol Gabetta, Joseph Suk, Mischa Maisky, Shlomo Mintz, Ivan Moravec, Gabriela Beňačková and Joseph Calleja, Ramon Vargas, amongst others.
Equally in demand as an opera conductor, he made his opera debut in 2001 conducting Falstaff at the Berlin Opera. Since then his performances have included Don Giovanni in Milan, Evgeny Onegin at Frankfurt’s Alte-Oper, Aida at the Lago di Como Festival, The Rake’s Progress in Warsaw, Il barbieri di Siviglia at the Poznan Opera Theatre, and also productions at the Sydney Opera House, the Teatro Fenice in Venice and in Amsterdam. In 2023 he will conduct at the Hong Kong Opera celebrating their 20th anniversary.
Born in Malta, Charles Olivieri Munroe grew up in Canada where he studied piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music and at the University of Toronto. Following his graduation in 1992, he won three Ontario Scholarships to study with Otakar Trhlik at the Janáček Academy of Music in Brno. He also studied with celebrated conductors Jiří Bělohlávek and James DePriest. In the mid-1990s he spent two summers at the famed Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena studying with Yuri Temirkanov, Myung Whun Chung and Ilja Musin.
Charles’ international career was launched with a series of triumphs at international competitions culminating with his being awarded First Prize at the 2000 Prague Spring International Music Festival Conducting Competition. His prizes included recordings for Supraphon Records and concerts broadcast by Czech Radio. More recently he has recorded for Sony, RCA Red Seal, Naxos, SMS Classical and Naïve Records.
Charles Olivieri-Munroe is currently Artistic Advisor and regular guest conductor with the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor with the Thüringen Philharmonie in Germany and Honorary Chief Conductor of the North Czech Philharmonic with whom he was formerly Chief Conductor between 1997 and 2014. He is also Resident Conductor at the Texas Round Top Festival Institute, the longest continuously running music Festival of its kind in the United States.
Previously he served as Artistic Director of the Cracow Philharmonic Orchestra from 2015-2021, Chief Conductor of Philharmonie Südwestfalen in Germany (2011-2018) and held the positions of Principal Conductor of the Colorado ‘Crested Butte’ Festival (2008), Artistic Director of the Inter-Regionales Symfonie Orchester in Germany (2008), Chief Conductor of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bratislava (2001-2004), and Associate Conductor with the Brno Philharmonic (1995-1997) and Karlsbad Symphony Orchestra (1993-1995).
Like the late Sir Charles Mackerras, Charles Olivieri Munroe is a recognised specialist in the works of composers Dvořák, Smetana, Janáček, Martinů and the wider Slavic repertoire. Charles Olivieri Munroe is equally well known both for his mastery of the standard repertoire and adventurous programming.
The New York Times
“A naturally charismatic conductor”
Toronto Star
“He so energised the musicians of the Toronto Symphony that this reviewer hopes he makes many, many return visits”