(Credt: Russell Duncan)

Conductor Carlo Rizzi was awarded the honor of “Grande Ufficiale” of the “Ordine della Stella d’Italia.”

The prize is one of two orders of the Italian Republic, for his commitment and contribution to promoting Italian music and culture internationally.

Last year, Rizzi was welcomed to The Gorsedd of the Bards in the 2023 Gorsedd Honours in recognition of his contribution to the Welsh language and public life in Wales.

Rizzi is the Artistic Director of Opera Rara and is set to release the 27th complete Donizetti revival, “L’esule di Roma.” Since 2015, he has been Conductor Laureate of the Welsh National Opera, following his tenure as Music Director (1992-2001 and 2004-08). He has conducted at the Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as at the Opera National de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, the Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro, the Netherlands Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the New National Theatre Tokyo, Opernhaus Zürich, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie, Brussels.