Alessandro Carletti

Biography

Alessandro Carletti was born in Rome. He studied photography and painting through which he very soon discovered his passion for lighting design that has been also taught to him by his father who worked in theatre. In fact, his first experiences are the productions directed by Carmelo Bene at the Teatro Eliseo.
In the late 90s he started working at the Rossini Opera Festival where he consolidated his experience in opera productions. Since 2008 Alessandro Carletti collaborates regularly with the director Damiano Michieletto.

Recent productions worth mentioning include: Il Trittico (Theater an der Wien), Don Carlo (Wiener Staatsoper), Cavalleria Rusticana (Teatro San Carlo, Naples), Nabucco (Royal Opera House Covent Garden), Un ballo in maschera (Teatro La Scala), Il viaggio a Reims (De Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam), Divine parole (by Ramón del Valle Inclan, Piccolo Teatro di Milano) and Guillaume Tell (Royal Opera House Covent Garden), Die Zauberflöte (Teatro de la Fenice), Otello (Theater an der Wien), Il Trittico (Teatro dell'Opera di Roma) and Dreigroschenoper (Piccolo Teatro di Milano).

During the season 2015/16 and for the second time at Royal Opera House in London he created the lighting design for the new production of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci which has been awarded Best Opera Production at the Laurence Olivier Awards.

In July 2016 he designed the lighting for the new production of Nabucco at the open air location of Terme di Caracalla, collaborating with director Federico Grazzini and video maker Luca Scarzella.

The same year, he continued his collaboration with director Damiano Michieletto for Samson et Dalila at Opera de Paris, La donna del lago at Rossini Opera festival 2016 and for the world première of Aquagranda (music by Filippo Perocco) at Teatro La Fenice di Venezia (Premio Abbiati).

In 2017 his lighting design for the new production of Rigoletto at Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam gained a great success. Recent event at Arena di Verona produced by Balich Worldwide Shows includes his collaboration for Intimissimi On Ice. In October 2017 he created the lighting design for I Capuleti e Montecchi collaborating with the director Silvia Paoli (Opera de Tenerife in coproduction with Teatro Comunale di Bologna).
Season 17/18 includes productions such as the opening at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma with Damnation de Faust (Premio Abbiati for best production 2017), Die lustige Witwe at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Theater an der Wien, Don Pasquale at Opera National de Paris (all with the director Damiano Michieletto), Semele at the Komische Oper in Berlin (director Barrie Kosky) and a new production of Rigoletto in Palermo (director John Turturro). 

He won the Knight of Illumination Award 2015 for the opera Guillaume Tell, production of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.