Francesco Pasqualetti is an Italian conductor, born in Pisa in 1980. He graduated in piano and composition at the conservatories of Lucca and Florence, and specialized in orchestral conducting at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena with Gianluigi Gelmetti and at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Sir Colin Davis. He also graduated with honors in Philosophy in Pisa. 

In February 2022, his first historical novel was released in all Italian bookstores: THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT (Rizzoli), based on a surprisingly intertwining of music and power in late eighteenth-century Europe. The publication attracted the attention of important newspapers and television publications, including Tg2, BBC History Magazine, RTL 102.5, Libero and many others.

He has conducted in major Italian and foreign theatres, including the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Cologne Opera and the New Zealand Opera. 

In the 2022-2023 season he made his debut at the Fondazione Arena di Verona with the direction of Massenet's Werther and inaugurated the seasons of the Modena and Piacenza Theaters with Boito's Mefistofele, enjoying important critical and public success in both cases. In November 2023 he opened the season of Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini (Jesi) and Teatro Verdi di Pisa with a new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, conducting the FORM- Filarmonica Marchigiana and the ORT-Orchestra della Toscana. Future engagements include 14 shows of Andrea Chenier for Opera Lombardia and symphonic concerts in England and Germany.

He recently concluded a long and successful tour of Massenet's Werther, a co-production which visited the theaters of Como, Pavia, Brescia, Cremona, Modena, Ferrara, Reggio Emilia, Pisa and involved the orchestras I Pomeriggi Musicali and FOI Filarmonica dell’Opera 'Italiana “Bruno Bartoletti”.

In 2019 he was at the Tsinandali Festival, where he conducted the newly formed Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra in a vast repertoire, including Mahler's Second Symphony, Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto, Sibelius' Second Symphony, Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony.

The year 2018 saw him involved in a new production of Il Trovatore for the Teatro Verdi in Trieste and in Ugo Nespolo's new staging of L'Italiana in Algeri in Pisa and Rovigo. In Lübeck he conducted Il Barbiere di Siviglia, at the Opera de Vichy a Verdian Gala with the Orchester National d' Auvergne. He made his debut at the Verdi Festival in Parma and Busseto with Un giorno di Regno, obtaining international critical attention and a review in the New York Times. He then conducted Rossini's monumental Moses in Egypt in the theaters of Pisa and Novara, a work broadcast by RAI 5. Finally he closed 2018 with the Winland Christmas Gala Concert in Beijing, conducting the Chinese National Symphony Orchestra and Choir, together with an international cast.

In 2017 he made his debut at the Florence Opera – Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with a production of Madama Butterfly which received enthusiastic acclaim. He was invited for the third time to New Zealand, where he conducted Carmen for the New Zealand Opera in Auckland and Wellington and was also the concductor of Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze by Nino Rota for LTL Opera Studio in Pisa, Lucca and Livorno with the Italian Youth Orchestra.

The 2015/2016 season saw his debut at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice with Rossini's La Scala di Seta, in the symphonic season of the Orchester d'Auvergne in France, at the Cologne Opera House with Cosi Fan tutte, at the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with Verdi's Macbeth, and has also returned to the Theaters of Pisa and Lucca with Mefistofele and to the Theaters of Como and Pavia with Cosi Fan tutte for Opera Lombardia.

Among his opera productions we remember Il Matrimonio Segreto and Die Zauberfloete for the Teatro Regio of Turin, La Scala di Seta for the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, La Boheme and Madama Butterfly for New Zealand Opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the Stresa Festival with the Italian Youth Orchestra, L'Italiana in Algeri and La Traviata for the Circuito Lirico Lombardo, Le Nozze di Figaro and Il Don Giovanni for the Theater of Pisa, L'Elisir d'amore for the Theater of Sassari, for the Teatro Lirico of Cagliari and for the RNCM of Manchester. Francesco was also visiting professor for the Italian opera repertoire at the National Opera Studio in London.

He has been invited several times for symphony concerts on the podium of the orchestra of I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, of the ORT-Orchestra Regionale Toscana, of the BBC Philharmonic of Manchester, of the OJM - Orchester des jeunes de la Mediterranee (in residence at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provecnce) of the Orchestra of the Teatro Regio of Turin, of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Turin, of the RNCM Symphony Orchestra of Manchester and of I Virtuosi del Teatro alla Scala, collaborating with internationally renowned soloists such as Boris Belkin, Bruno Canino, Francesca Dego, Marie-Josèphe Jude, Maurizio Baglini, Davide Formisano, Luisa Prandina, Nicola Lolli, Simone Briatore.

He was assistant to Gianluigi Gelmetti, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Colin Dav is and Trevor Pinnock at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Opéra de Monte Carlo, the Stresa Festival and the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. In 2009 Sir Colin Davis invited Francesco to the podium of the London Symphony Orchestra for a matinee concert as part of the LSO Discovery Scheme.

Francesco was the founder and principal conductor of the OGU-Youth Orchestra of the University of Pisa from 2002 to 2008. During his musical direction the Orchestra performed a variety of repertoire, covering symphonic, symphonic choral and chamber music repertoires . From 2012 to today he has been Artistic and Musical Director of the Arche' Orchestra in Pisa.

Numerous are the international prizes and recognitions: the Accademia Chigiana awarded him the "Diploma of Honour", the Royal Academy of Music rewarded the conclusion of his studies with the Henry Wood Prize and the Gordon Foundation Prize. Furthermore, in 2017, the Board of Governors of the Royal Academy of Music in London elected him "Associate of the Royal Academy of Music" (ARAM), an honor reserved for former students of the Academy who have particularly distinguished themselves in the musical profession.