Alessio Allegrini (Horn and Conductor)

© Riccardo Musacchio / MUSA
  • Founder, Artistic Director – Human Rights Orchestra
  • Principal Conductor – Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese (L’Aquila)

Founder of Musicians For Human Rights, music director of the Human Rights Orchestra and Principal Conductor of Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese (L’Aquila), Alessio Allegrini has performed as principal horn with virtually all of the world’s leading conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Carlo Maria Giulini, Daniel Barenboim, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Lorin Maazel, Myung-Whun Chung, Mariss Jansons, Jeffrey Tate, Valery Gergiev, Simon Rattle, Antonio Pappano and Riccardo Muti.

Winner of prizes in both the Prague Spring International Competition and the Munich International Competition, Allegrini held the first chair in the Orchestra of La Scala for eight years and subsequently served as guest principal horn of the Berlin Philharmonic for one year. For many years he was principal horn of Orchestra Mozart under Claudio Abbado, and this relationship culminated with the live recording of the complete Mozart horn concertos for Deutsche Grammophon, as well as the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for winds and the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.2.

As soloist, Allegrini premiered Elliott Carter’s Horn Concerto in Europe and performed Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Ian Bostridge and the Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia. Other concerto engagements have included Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Philhamonie Baden-Baden, Orchestra Teatro Petruzzelli Bari, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestra della Scala, Filarmonica Teatro La Fenice and Orchestra of Teatro Lirico in Cagliari. For many years he has been the solo first horn of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.

As conductor he made his debut at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari with a highly acclaimed concert of Wagner and Brahms in 2013. Subsequently he began to jointly conduct and solo with orchestras including the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, I Solisti Aquilani, and Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano.  Recently, he led and soloed with the Tokyo City Philharmonic and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and conducted the Hamburger Symphoniker. As a soloist, he performed with the Vienna Symphoniker, Hiroshima Symphony, Nagoya Philharmonic, Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, and Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana.

In the 2021-22 season, he appeared at the KKL Luzern and Teatro La Fenice with the Human Rights Orchestra, returned to conduct Carmina Burana at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari and his first collaboration with La Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, Parma with the programme of Mendelssohn and Beethoven.

In the 2022-23 season highlights include his 3rd appearance as a conductor at the Theatro Lirico di Cagliari (Beethoven and Stravinsky) and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Human Rights Orchestra at the KKL Lucerne, and first collaboration with the Camerata Bern and Sapporo Symphony Orchestra as a soloist.

Since 2004, Allegrini has been the solo principal horn of the Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 2021 he was appointed as principal conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese (L’Aquila). Allegrini is a professor at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana in Lugano.


Alessio_Allegrini_Abbado_1