Direction

After studying music at the Ottorino Respighi School in Imperia, Giulio Magnanini completed his training as a pianist at the Niccolò Paganini Conservatory in Genoa, and as a choirmaster and composer at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Turin. He began his career as a singing master and choirmaster in various productions (including Le nozze di Figaro and Cavelleria rusticana).

From 1991 to 2003, he directed the Imperia "Cantores Bormani" choir. Then, in October 1994, he was hired by the Nice Opera as assistant to the choirmaster, Dante Ghersi, and later Jean Laforge. It was in July 1996 that he produced his first production for the Nice Opera, La Traviata, presented as part of the Antibes "Musiques au Cœur" Festival. Since May 1997, he has been at the helm of the Nice Opera Choir. Under his direction, the Choir has regularly distinguished itself through the works of the various seasons. His most recent successes include the productions of Parsifal, Boris Godunov, La damnation de Faust and Norma at the Salle Pleyel alongside Edita Gruberova during a Paris tour, during which he received excellent reviews from the specialist press..

Since his appointment, he has been modernising the repertoire of the Nice Opera Choir with a cappella repertoires and creations from contemporary works, as part of the Nice Opera's symphonic seasons. Since July 2000, the Nice Opera choir has been regularly invited to the prestigious Chorégies d’Orange.

Giulio Magnanini has also had the privilege of directing all the choirs of the Chorégies for a production of Carmen, conducted by Chung. Having already appeared at the 2006 edition – at the head of the Festival's choral forces for a surprising Lucia di Lammermoor, alongside Rolando Villazon and Patricia Ciofi – he returned in August 2010, as the Festival's direction entrusted him with the choral preparation for Mireille by Charles Gounod.