Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano

Nicolò Umberto Foron is an Italian-German conductor whose talent has been recognised through a number of prestigious awards, including victory in the “Donatella Flick” Conducting Competition in March 2023 and the “Jeunesses Musicales” International Conducting Competition in Bucharest in 2021. He has appeared on Classic FM on several occasions and was also named among the “30 Under 30” artists of 2025.

In recent years, he has collaborated with a wide range of prestigious orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Opéra national de Montpellier, the Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, the Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg, the Opéra national de Lorraine, the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. Furthermore, he has conducted at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg with the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and made his debut at the Wiener Konzerthaus with the Wiener Kammerorchester. He has also conducted the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra on tour with Viktoria Mullova, as well as the Ensemble Intercontemporain and the Arktisk Filharmoni, performing at prestigious venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Die Glocke in Bremen. In February 2025, he conducted both the BBC Symphony Orchestra (London Barbican) and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (Helsinki Musiikkitalo), performing a mix of world premieres and distinctive repertoire. He has also conducted the Bremer Philharmoniker, the Cameristi della Scala, the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, the Euskadiko Orkestra (Basque National Orchestra) and the Odense Symfoniorkester.
The 2025–2026 season sees him at the MiTo SettembreMusica Festival and at the helm of the SWR Symphonieorchester, the Orquesta de Extremadura, the Orchestra Haydn, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, amongst others. He will also return to conduct the Arktisk Filharmoni and the Cameristi della Scala.

foto Jana Stein

Renowned for his versatility, Foron has conducted numerous world premieres, notably with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, in both the symphonic and operatic repertoires. His operatic successes include Le Nozze di Figaro (Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy), Hänsel und Gretel (Staatskapelle Weimar) and Walter Kollo’s operetta Jettchen Gebert (Musikalische Komödie Leipzig), as well as world premieres.
Foron’s musical career began at a very early age, studying conducting, composition and piano, with the latter being his first instrument. He trained with leading pianists such as K.H. Kammerling and A. Ugorski, and began studying conducting with Jorma Panula at the age of 10. His extraordinary abilities caught the attention of Bernard Haitink, who invited him to take part in masterclasses at the Lucerne Festival when he was 16. At 16, he began formal conducting studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, followed by a master’s degree at the Royal College of Music and an Advanced Diploma in Performance at the Royal Academy of Music in London, from which he graduated in 2021. He also continues to perform as a concert pianist, often in collaboration with his sister, the violinist Mira Foron.
During the pandemic, Foron conducted the Noord Nederlands Orkest in a livestream and a CD recording of Jan-Peter de Graaf’s Cello Concerto, which earned him a nomination for the German Record Prize. In 2023, he was appointed Artist in Residence by German National Broadcasting, an honour that included both a concert and a CD recording with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. The CD was released by Deutsche Grammophon/Avi in the summer of 2025.