When Daniele Gatti takes over the post of Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden in August 2024, this will inaugurate a fresh chapter in a long-standing collaboration. Gatti made his debut with the orchestra in February 2000 at the invitation of the then principal conductor, Giuseppe Sinopoli, with a programme featuring works by Mendelssohn, Hindemith and Brahms. Over the following years, he returned several times to Dresden. With Gatti's mastery of the Staatskapelle's core repertoire, visionary interpretations and keen sense of the sound and unique traditions of this historic ensemble, audiences can look forward to some outstanding concert experiences. During his first season, he will launch the orchestra's first complete cycle of Gustav Mahler's symphonic works.

In addition to his post in Dresden, Daniele Gatti is also Chief Conductor of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Music Director of the Orchestra Mozart and, since 2016, Artistic Advisor to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Born in Milan in 1961, Gatti studied composition and orchestra conducting at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in his home city. He made his debut at La Scala at the age of 27. This was followed by permanent engagements with leading music institutions such as the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, London's Royal Opera House, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. He was subsequently Principal Conductor of the Orchestre National de France (2008–2016), the Zurich Opera House (2009-2012) and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam (2016–2018), as well as Music Director of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma until 2022. Gatti is also a popular guest conductor, appearing for example with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala.

Equally in demand in the field of opera, Daniele Gatti has conducted major new productions such as Parsifal, staged by Stefan Herheim, which launched the 2008 Bayreuth Festival, as well as four operas at the Salzburg Festival, namely Richard Strauss's Elektra, Puccini's La bohème, Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Verdi's Il trovatore. He has opened several seasons of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma with works such as Berlioz's La damnation de Faust, Verdi's Rigoletto and Les vêpres siciliennes, Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli's Julius Caesar. In 2023, he conducted Verdi's Falstaff and all of Tchaikovsky's symphonies as part of the 85^th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival. In summer of 2025, he will return to Bayreuth for a new production of Die Meistersinger.

Daniele Gatti's extensive discography testifies to his broad repertoire. For Sony Classical, he has recorded works by Debussy and Stravinsky with the Orchestre National de France as well as a DVD of Wagner's Parsifal, performed at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As part of the RCO Live series, he conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in recordings of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, several Mahler symphonies, a DVD of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps also featuring Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and La mer, a DVD of Strauss's Salome at the Dutch National Opera and a CD of Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 as well as the Prelude and Karfreitagszauber from Wagner's Parsifal. In 2019, C-Major released a DVD of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde under the baton of Daniele Gatti, staged at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

In 2015, Daniele Gatti was awarded the Franco Abbiati Prize as best conductor by Italian music critics, and in 2016 was named Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French Republic for his work as Music Director of the Orchestre National de France. He also holds the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

As one of the world’s oldest orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden is steeped in tradition. Founded in 1548 by Moritz, Elector of Saxony, its history is inextricably linked with the city of Dresden, the royal Saxon court and its theatre. Until today, the venerable ensemble performs some 250 opera and ballets each season at its home in the Semperoper. In addition, the orchestra presents around 50 symphonic concerts, matinee events and chamber music evenings. Daniele Gatti has been Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden since 2024/25 concert season.

Admired around the world
Celebrated for its unmistakable “Dresden sound”, the Staatskapelle is one of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, appearing at major international music venues several times each season. From 2013 to 2022, the ensemble was the resident orchestra at the Salzburg Easter Festival. For this successful decade of work at the Salzach River, it was awarded the Herbert von Karajan Prize. In 2007, the Staatskapelle was the first and until today the only orchestra to receive the “European Cultural Foundation Prize for the Preservation of the World’s Musical Heritage”.

More than 475 years of musical excellence
In the 2023/2024 season, the Staatskapelle Dresden celebrated its 475^th anniversary. Since its foundation, many great conductors and renowned musical partners have shaped the history of the former ensemble. Its roster of former principal conductors includes Heinrich Schütz, Johann Adolf Hasse, Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner, who described the orchestra as his “miraculous harp”. Richard Strauss was closely linked to the ensemble for more than sixty years. Nine of his operas, including Salome, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier, were premiered in Dresden and he dedicated his Alpine Symphony to the Staatskapelle. To this day, the Staatskapelle regularly presents new works, including world premieres and first performances of music by Hans Werner Henze, Sofia Gubaidulina, Wolfgang Rihm, György Kurtág, Peter Eötvös, Aribert Reimann, Olga Neuwirth and Georg Friedrich Haas.

Looking to the future
The Staatskapelle's most significant principal conductors of the last 150 years include Ernst von Schuch, Fritz Reiner, Fritz Busch, Karl Böhm, Joseph Keilberth, Rudolf Kempe, Otmar Suitner, Kurt Sanderling, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Bernard Haitink, Fabio Luisi and, from 2012 to 2024, Christian Thielemann. In May 2016, former Principal Conductor Herbert Blomstedt was appointed Conductor Laureate, a title previously held only once, namely by Sir Colin Davis from 1990 until his death in 2013. Myung-Whun Chung has been the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor since 2012. The ensemble’s own series of orchestra recitals provides a wonderful opportunity for up-and-coming maestros to make their debuts. The Staatskapelle is committed to fostering young musicians, not least through the Giuseppe Sinopoli Academy (the successor institution to the “Orchestra School” founded in 1923), the successful “Kapelle for Kids” educational programme and as a partner of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra.

A strong media presence
For over 100 years, the sound of the Staatskapelle has been documented via numerous recordings. The impressive discography, which includes several seminal CDs, has been supplemented in recent years by radio productions for MDR Kultur and Deutschlandfunk Kultur as well as the “Edition Staatskapelle Dresden” published by Profil Hänssler. Every year, Germany’s ZDF broadcasts the Staatskapelle’s New Year’s Eve Concert from the Semperoper as well as the Advent Concert from the Frauenkirche to television screens throughout the country.

Local engagement
The Staatskapelle is very active throughout Saxony. It is a partner of the charity Meetingpoint Memory Messiaen in Görlitz-Zgorzelec, cooperates with the community music project “Musaik” in the Dresden district of Prohlis and in 2010 helped launch the International Shostakovich Festival in Gohrisch, the world’s first annual festival dedicated to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. The Staatskapelle also regularly reaches out to younger audiences in Dresden’s Neustadt district with its project “Ohne Frack auf Tour” (On Tour without Tails).