Giuseppe Stillitano is an Italian conductor, born in 1998 in Cinquefrondi (Calabria). He began his musical studies at the age of seven thanks to his mother and developed his early musical skills in the church, playing the organ and singing in the parish children’s choir.

He studied violin at the Liceo Musicale of his hometown and later graduated with top honours in piano from the Conservatorio “F. Cilea” in Reggio Calabria, where he was a protégé of Roberto Giordano. At the same institution, he began his composition studies with Massimo Donadello. He then graduated in conducting from the Conservatorio “G. Verdi” in Milan with Daniele Agiman and refined his technique at the Saluzzo Conducting Academy under the guidance of Donato Renzetti, who recognised him as one of his most outstanding students.

Giuseppe has participated in a wide range of masterclasses with renowned conductors, including Neeme Järvi, Vasily Petrenko, Speranza Scappucci, Robert Trevino, Martyn Brabbins, Lior Shambadal, and Chloé van Soeterstède. His training also includes wind orchestra conducting with Johan De Meij and choral conducting with Lorenzo Donati.

In 2021, he made his operatic debut conducting ‘Così fan tutte’ at the Vienna Opera Academy, where he was awarded the highest level of scholarship. During his time in Milan, he had the opportunity to attend rehearsals at Teatro alla Scala thanks to a close mentorship with Marco Munari, his score reading professor and prompter at the theatre. He also took up the role of Music Director of the Marble Foundation (Milan–Florence–Naples).

Since 2023, he has been assistant to Gianluca Marcianò, working alongside him in both operatic and symphonic productions across Europe and Asia.

He has collaborated with numerous orchestras, including: National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, Oxford University Orchestra, Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra of Muscat, Kauno City Symphony Orchestra of Kaunas, Polska Filharmonia Bałtycka of Gdańsk, Salomon Orchestra of London, Orchestra Giovanile della Magna Grecia of Taranto, Wiener Festspiele Orchestra of Vienna, Orchestra I Musici of Parma, RCM Symphony & Philharmonic Orchestras of London, Orchestra Sinfonica of Milan, Obiettivorchestra of Saluzzo, Orchestra Ludi Sonores of Rome, Imola Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Conservatorio “A. Peri” of Reggio Emilia, Società del Quartetto of Palermo, Orchestra Ariadimusica of Rome, and others.

Among his most recent debuts, Giuseppe conducted the RCM String Orchestra at St Paul’s Cathedral in London (October 2025), opened the 2025-6 OUO Season at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford (November 2025), and made his debut with the NCOA at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall in Yerevan (December 2025).

Giuseppe has worked with internationally acclaimed soloists such as Elly Suh and Cihat Aşkın, with whom he performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in 2024. He has also collaborated with opera legends Sondra Radvanovsky and Piotr Beczała in “Tosca” at the Polish Baltic Frédéric Chopin Philharmonic. 

His name appeared in Volume V of Opera Charm Magazine (2023) in an interview for the “Conductors of the Future” column by Cristina Fieraru. In 2024, Music Paper Magazine named him an “Italian Excellence Abroad” in an interview conducted by musicologist Eduardo Grumelli.

Giuseppe has received several awards and honours, including the “Mick Bagalà” Culture Prize (2018), the “Calabria–America” Special Award (2019), the “Marcello Abbado First Prize” (2021), and the “Scintille Cultura Calabria” Award (2024). He is a “Patron of Culture” for the Treccani Foundation in Rome and was recently conferred the title of “Knight of the Order of Merit of Savoy”.

He has been featured on various media platforms, including ReggioTV (Il salotto dell’editore), LaC TV (Storie che insegnano), and RadioLibertà (L’angolo della musica classica). In 2024, he was invited as a guest speaker at the Festival Nazionale di Diritto e Letteratura in Palmi (RC), where he discussed musical interpretation in a forum hosted by Magistrates Antonio Salvati and Ilario Nasso.

He currently lives in London, where he holds a scholarship for a Master of Performance in Conducting at the Royal College of Music – widely regarded as the world’s leading institution for music and the performing arts. He studies with Toby Purser, Howard Williams, Peter Stark and Colin Metters, and has assisted conductors including Vasily Petrenko, Rafael Payare, Joana Carneiro, and Natalia Luis Bassa.

Outside of music, Giuseppe enjoys social engagement, volunteering, cooking, visiting art galleries, reading, and travelling. His interest in Russian culture has led him to study its literature with Margarita Smirnova at the Teatro Petrolini in Rome.