Matthias Manasi

**Matthias Manasi** (born 26 December 1969 in Berlin, Germany) is a German conductor and pianist. He was the chief conductor of the Orchestra Camerata Italiana. He was also the music director and chief conductor of the Nickel City Opera in Buffalo (New York USA) and the chief conductor of the orchestra I Solisti di Milano in Milan, Italy.

## Life and career

Manasi learned to play the piano when he was three and studied violin when he was eight. He studied orchestral conducting with Thomas Ungar and piano with Andrzej Ratusinski at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts and piano with Carmen Piazzini at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (University of Music). During his studies he worked as an assistant conductor at the Staatsoper Stuttgart. He was assistant to Manfred Honeck. Manasi began his conducting career at the Silesian State Opera (Slezske divadlo) in Opava with Verdi's _Un ballo in maschera_, Puccini 's _La bohème_ and Mozart 's _Don Giovanni_ and _The Magic Flute_.

After his studies, Manasi worked as a conductor at the Kiel Opera House and the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater. He then became chief conductor of the Orchestra Camerata Italiana and he conducted with this orchestra the world premiere of Cosimo Minicozzi's oratorio _La Passione di padre Pio da Pietrelcina_ in 2012.  From 2007 to 2010, he worked as a conductor of the Erzgebirgische Philharmonie Aue (Eduard-von-Winterstein-Theater). In November 2009 he accompanied the mezzo-soprano Laura Brioli on Richard Wagner's grand piano in a concert at the Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth.

From 2010 to 2013 he was music director of the International PuntaClassic Festival in Montevideo. He is a sought-after guest conductor.
In June 2013 he conducted the Vienna Mozart Orchestra for the first time in the Musikverein in Vienna. He also conducted the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Radio Orchestra of Romania, the Czech Philharmonic, the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional Claudio Santoro, the Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover, the Kazakh State Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Cukurova Devlet Senfoni Orkestras. From 2013 to 2016 he was the First Conductor of the Wrocław Opera.

In 2017, Matthias Manasi became music director and chief conductor of the Nickel City Opera in Buffalo (NY), a position he finished in July 2021. He also guest conducted at opera houses, including the Theater Bremen, the Staatstheater Braunschweig, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Staatstheater Kassel, the Leipzig Opera, the Opera Halle, Opera Poznań, the Astana Opera, the Polish National Opera (Teatr Wielki) in Warsaw and the Stadttheater Klagenfurt.

He is also recognized as a pianist and opened on 5 March 2016 in Liepāja the 24th Liepaja International Stars Festival as the pianist and conductor of Beethoven’s _Piano Concerto No. 0_ with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra. As a pianist he also performed with the Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica do Rio Grande do Norte and the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra in Tucson.

On 8 December 2017 Matthias Manasi conducted the Romanian National Radio Orchestra for the first time at the Sala Radio in Bucharest in a memorial concert to honor King Michael I of Romania.

In 2018 he conducted the Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras in a concert with music by John Williams from _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_
 at the MEO Arena in Lisbon. From 2020 to 2024 he was chief conductor of the orchestra I Solisti di Milano in Milan, Italy. With the Slovak Sinfonietta he recorded Mozart's symphonies Nos. 34-36, released by the label Hänssler Classic in 2023.

In January 2024 he conducted the Malaysian New Year's Concert with the Selangor Symphony Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur.

## Other websites

- Matthias Manasi official website