Year
Event
1960
Born in Brooklyn, NY
1967
Family moves to Seattle, WA
1967
Sees Janos Starker play in concert. Begins Cello lessons.
1968
Sees Puccini’s TURANDOT at the Seattle Opera, which is a life changer. Starts to play the piano and learns opera scores.
1971
Sings the role of the Boy in Puccini’s LA BOHÈME at the Seattle Opera.
1972
Sees Wagner’s DIE WALKÜRE at the Seattle Opera and starts to develop a passion for his music.
1975
Starts employment at the Seattle Opera as a pianist/coach for Wagner’s DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, which he does for six seasons.
1978-1982
Attends the Eastman School of Music.
1981
Becomes a pianist/coach at the Santa Fe Opera, specializing in the operas of Richard Strauss, and working closely with founder John Crosby.
1982
Graduates Eastman. Plays senior piano recital with the Liszt Sonata as the major work.
1983
Becomes a pianist/coach at the San Francisco Opera, specializing in Wagner's RING Cycle, assisting Edo de Waart.
1983
Becomes a pianist/coach at the Chicago Lyric Opera, assisting Maestri such as Bruno Bartoletti, Marek Janowski, and James Conlon.
1984
Becomes a pianist/coach/assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, assisting James Levine, among others.
1985
Appears on stage at the Metropolitan Opera as the Tavern Pianist in Act III of Berg’s WOZZECK, and soon after plays the piano in the pit with the Met Orchestra for the Met’s first ever performances of Gershwin’s PORGY AND BESS, both with James Levine conducting.
1986
Does musical preparation and is cover conductor for a special festival series of three Richard Strauss operas, arranged by Matthew Epstein and presented in Carnegie Hall, including CAPRICCIO, INTERMEZZO and DAPHNE, assisting Jeffrey Tate and Andrew Davis, among others.
1986
Assists Zubin Mehta at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (DIE MEISTERSINGER, TOSCA and GURRELIEDER).
1986-1988
Assists Daniel Barenboim at the Bayreuth Festival (TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, PARSIFAL, DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN).
1986
Makes his conducting debut at the San Francisco Opera in Gounod’s FAUST.
1987
Assists Leonard Bernstein on his recording of Puccini’s LA BOHÈME with the Orchestra dell’Academia Nationale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
1988
Makes his conducting debut at the Chicago Lyric Opera with Mozart’s COSI FAN TUTTE.
1988
Is chosen by Leonard Bernstein to be one of three young conductors to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a special pair of concerts, where he conduct's Strauss' TOD UND VERKLÄRUNG.
1989
Makes his conducting debut at the Santa Fe Opera in Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA.
1990
Takes over at short notice from Seiji Ozawa and conducts a concert of opera scenes with Mirella Freni, Petr Dvorský and the Boston Symphony.
1990
Makes his debut at Oper der Stadt Köln in Puccini’s MANON LESCAUT.
1991
Makes his conducting debut at the Australian Opera with Puccini’s TURANDOT, with Grace Bumbry singing the title role.
1991
Makes conducting debut at the Seattle Opera in Puccini’s LA BOHÈME, 20 years after singing "The Boy" on the very same stage. This was also his first opportunity to work with his father, George Fiore, who was the Seattle Opera's legendary Chorus Master.
1991
Makes conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA.
1992
Makes his debut at the Dresden Semperoper in Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA, there starting a close relationship with the Staatskapelle Dresden.
1992
Makes his conducting debut at the National Opera of Bordeaux with Verdi’s RIGOLETTO, and then takes over concert performances of Verdi’s OTELLO at a week’s notice.
1993
Conducts the Met Premiere of Dvořák’s RUSALKA, the first time this opera had ever been performed there.
1994
Conducts the first staged version of Berlioz’ LES TROYENS at the Australian Opera, the first in this country’s history.
1994
Makes his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper with DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER.
1998
Conducts Debussy’s PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE at Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, the first in this country’s history.
1999
Becomes Chief Conductor of The Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Duisburg, his first production being Wagner’s DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG.
2000
Becomes the General Music Director of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker.
2001
Conducts Schoenberg’s massive GURRELIEDER with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and the Musikverein zu Dusseldorf.
2001
Goes on a two week China Tour leading the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker in works including Beethoven’s 7th Symphony and Schumann’s 2nd Symphony.
2002
The Deutsche Oper am Rhein does a tour to the Savonlinna Festival in Finland, where he conducts DIE MEISTERSINGER and DER ROSENKAVALIER back to back, six nights in a row.
2003
Conducts the World Premiere of Bright Sheng’s MADAME MAO at the Santa Fe Opera.
2004
Conducts his first complete RING at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.
2005
Conducts the World Premiere of Christian Jost’s VIPERN at he Deutsche Oper am Rhein.
2005
Conducts the complete RING Cycle at the National Theater in Prague, the first production since the Second World War (co-production with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein).
2008
Conducts Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in his final concert as General Music Director with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and the Musikverein zu Dusseldorf.
2009
Conducts 17 operas in his final season as Chief Conductor at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, including the complete RING, DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN, RUSALKA, PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE, and a 5-day Janáček festival with five different operas (JENŮFÁ, KATA’ KABANOVA, THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN, THE MAKROPULOS CASE, and THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD).
2009
Becomes Music Director of The Norwegian Opera and Ballet in Oslo.
2010
Makes his debut with the Grand Théâtre de Genève conducting Wagner’s PARSIFAL, starting a long relationship with that theatre and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
2011
Conducts the first ever performances of Berg’s LULU at the Norwegian Opera.
2012
Returns to the Savonlinna Festival, this time with the Norwegian Opera, conducting Britten’s PETER GRIMES.
2014
Makes his debut at the Swedish Royal Opera on a day’s notice to conduct Giordano’s ANDREA CHÉNIER.
2015
Becomes a freelancer and moves to Geneva, Switzerland.
2016
Conducts a run of Mascagni’s CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA and Leoncavallo’s PAGLIACCI at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, starting a fruitful relationship there.
2017
Conducts the first performance ever of Berlioz’ LES TROYENS at the Dresden Semperoper.
2018
Returns to the Seattle and Santa Fe Operas for AIDA and MADAMA BUTTERFLY, respectively.
2019
Makes his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona with Puccini’s TOSCA.
2020
Makes his debut at the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center with Saint-Saëns' SAMSON ET DALILA.
2022
Ends up taking over most of a run of Wagner's DIE MEISTERSINGER at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, after Sir Donald Runnicles has to withdraw, which is broadcast and filmed for DVD.