Gabriele
Dona

Gabriele Donà has been Artistic Director of Opera at Oper Köln since April 2023. Born in Padua in 1979, the musician and arts manager received his training in his home city and in Vienna. As Director of Opera, he is responsible for casting, overseeing the music department and directing teams, and coordinating the performance schedule. He regularly attends meetings of the conference of opera companies in German-speaking countries.

He studied violin at the Conservatory of Music in Padua, musicology at the University of Padua, and orchestral and choral conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. During his musicology studies, he discovered and catalogued the collection of musical manuscripts held by the Jewish Community of Padua (1834–1942) in 2004. His research was subsequently published and honoured by the Accademia Galileiana Padova. His interest in the relationship between music and identity prompted him to rehearse and record a selection of songs in Lower and Upper Sorbian with the Klangwerkstatt Dresden choir (“Lieder aus dem Lohsaer Liederbuch”, 2017, rbb, Berlin).

During the early years of his professional career, he worked as a conductor and chorus master at the theatres in Bautzen and Passau. He also conducted various ensembles, including the Pro Arte Orchestra Vienna, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico Vicenza, the Neue Lausitzer Philharmonie Görlitz, the orchestra of the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, the Mitteldeutsche Kammerphilharmonie Magdeburg and the Coro di Praga in Prague. His numerous engagements have taken him to venues including the Frauenkirche in Dresden and the Konzerthaus Berlin.

He also organised festivals devoted to orchestral and chamber music in the Veneto region, serving as their musical director.

Following a career as a musician, violinist, and orchestral and choral conductor, he moved into arts management. In 2018, he became Head of Artistic Planning at the Staatstheater Mainz, where he assumed the position of Director of Opera in 2019.

He is regularly invited to serve on the juries of international singing competitions, including the International Vocal Competition ’s-Hertogenbosch, Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques (Montréal), the Claudia Taev Competition, Marmo all’Opera (Carrara), Concorso Voce all’Opera (Busseto), the Josep Palet International Singing Competition (Martorell) and the Agorà Lyric World International Competition (Verona).

In addition to attending numerous auditions, his scouting activities include collaborations with renowned opera studios such as the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, the Opera Studio of the Vienna State Opera and the New York Vocal Arts Academy in New York.

Since 2025, he has also served as Casting Director of the Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo, which takes place every November.