Anthony Barrese
Artistic Director and Principal Conductor
Anthony Barrese has conducted more operas by Gioachino Rossini than any other American conductor. One of the country’s foremost champions of neglected nineteenth-century opera, he has led landmark revivals of works by Franco Faccio, Giovanni Bottesini, Carlo Coccia, and Louise Bertin. As Artistic Director of Opera Southwest, he has established an exceptional record of repertory exploration, not only bringing more Rossini titles to the stage than any other American opera company, but also championing a remarkably diverse range of operatic rarities and new works.
Rather than rely exclusively on the scholarship of others, Barrese prepares many of his own performing editions from manuscript sources, working most summers in the archives of Italian conservatories from Naples to Milan. Barrese’s most well-known rediscovery to date is that of Franco Faccio’s Amleto, which he reconstructed over several years in collaboration with Casa Ricordi. He conducted its first fully staged modern revivals at Opera Southwest in 2014 and Opera Delaware in 2016. The production attracted international attention, including extensive press coverage, and led the work to re-enter the repertory after more than a century at multiple European houses, including Austria’s Bregenz Festival,.
Other significant rediscoveries that have been staged include Bottesini’s Alì Babà, Bertin’s Le loup-garou, and Coccia’s Matilde. His extensive Rossini repertory encompasses such monumental rarities as Guillaume Tell, Otello, Semiramide, and Mosè in Egitto, alongside the composer’s celebrated comedies. His work has earned recognition for combining rigorous musical scholarship with vivid theatrical performances, demonstrating the enduring vitality of works long excluded from the standard repertory.
A recipient of the 2007 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Barrese serves as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Opera Southwest and the New Mexico Symphonic Chorus, and as Music Director of OperaDelaware. Through these institutions, he has championed the development of emerging artists, mentoring young conductors in Solti fellowships, and providing rare opportunities to lead fully staged opera productions. His artistic leadership extends across the major symphonic-choral repertory, twentieth-century masterpieces, and contemporary American opera, including world premieres of new works.
As a guest conductor, Barrese has appeared with The Dallas Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera, Arizona Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Florentine Opera, Opera Tampa, and other companies throughout North America. His international engagements include performances in France and Italy, and his conducting has attracted critical acclaim for pacing, stylistic intelligence, and sensitivity to singers. His performances have also reached national audiences through no fewer than seven production broadcasts on the WFMT Opera Series.
An accomplished composer and orchestrator, Barrese has written opera, orchestral, chamber, and vocal music, including the two-act opera La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia. He is currently composing a new opera about boxer Johnny Tapia, commissioned by Opera Southwest with a libretto by John de los Santos. His extensive catalog of orchestral reductions, encompassing works by Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, and other composers, is distributed by E. C. Schirmer through his Casa Gian-Antonio imprint. A 2024 recipient of the Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative residency, Barrese studied composition at Trinity University and the New England Conservatory.
Visit Anthony Barrese’s website at anthonybarrese.com
Aaron Howe
Chorus Master
Aaron Howe has served as Chorus Master of Opera Southwest since 2018 and of the New Mexico Symphonic Chorus since 2024. He has been Artistic Director of the New Mexico Gay Men’s Chorus since 2010, programming and conducting its annual concert season. His career in New Mexico spans more than two decades of opera, concert music, musical theater, and choral education.
In 2026, Howe brought together the New Mexico Gay Men’s Chorus, Albuquerque Civic Chorus, Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, New Mexico Peace Choir, and New Mexico Women’s Chorus for Voices of Our Community, presented at the Lensic Performing Arts Center and National Hispanic Cultural Center. The program featured Southwest premieres of works by Grammy Award-winning composer Christopher Tin. Howe has also conducted Tin’s The Drop That Contained the Sea and To Shiver the Sky.
Howe served as Artistic Director of Santa Fe’s Zia Singers from 2016 to 2024, conducting the women’s ensemble in programs of traditional and contemporary choral music. In 2013, he co-founded the Rio Rancho Youth Chorus, serving as its Artistic Director through 2022.
His previous appointments include directing the choral program at St. Pius X High School and serving as Music Director at Heights First Church of the Nazarene, Community of Joy Lutheran Church, and Metropolitan Community Church in Albuquerque. He has also directed musical productions for Musical Theatre Southwest, Albuquerque Little Theatre, and Play Conservatory.
Howe holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Eastern New Mexico University and a Master of Music from the University of New Mexico.
