The recipient of the 2020 American Prize in Conducting (college/university division), Filippo Ciabatti, a native of Florence, Italy, is the Director of Orchestral and Choral Programs at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College, and the Artistic Director of the Upper Valley Baroque Ensemble.

Additionally, in 2022 he served as Interim Music Director of Opera Company Middlebury.

As guest conductor, Mr. Ciabatti has appeared with numerous opera companies and orchestras in Europe and North and South America, including Opera North (NH), Lyric Theatre at Illinois, Aurora Festival Orchestra (Sweden), Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Toscana dei Conservatori (Italy), Park ICM Orchestra (MO), Universidad Central Orchestra (Colombia), and the Concord Orchestra (MA). In 2020, he served as cover conductor for the Music Director of the Portland Symphony Orchestra (ME). At the Hopkins Center, he conducted members of the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, in a collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company.

As a conductor, Mr. Ciabatti has collaborated with artists including Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster David Kim, baritone Nathan Gunn, cellist Gabriel Cabezas, pianist Sally Pinkas, flutist Luciano Tristaino, and mandolinist Carlo Aonzo. An advocate for contemporary music and collaborations between musical genres, he premiered a secular oratorio composed by renowned jazz composer Taylor Ho Bynum and commissioned a cello concerto by composer Noah Luna, aired during the NPR show “From the Top”. In 2018, he led a Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra tour to Italy, performing Mahler’s 5^th Symphony in prominent venues and festivals, in collaboration with the Orchestra Toscana dei Conservatori.

In 2018, he was invited to be a Conducting Fellow at the Aurora Music Festival (Sweden), under the direction of Jukka-Pekka Saraste. During the festival, he conducted Hannah Kendall’s 2017 composition, “The Spark Catchers”, in the Konserthuset Stockholm.

As a collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Mr. Ciabatti is on the faculty of Camerata de’ Bardi, the Young Artists Program of Teatro Grattacielo in New York City, and the summer opera programs Opera Viva! in Verona (Italy) and “cuola Italia per Giovani Cantanti Lirici in Sant’Angelo in Vado (Italy). In 2021 -2022, he served as Music Director of the Young Artists Program of Opera Middlebury. He has played for masterclasses of Renée Fleming, Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard, William Matteuzzi, and Donald George. In Italy, he worked as vocal coach for the Cherubini Conservatory, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and Florence Opera Academy.

Mr. Ciabatti holds advanced degrees in piano, choral conducting, and orchestral conducting from Italy and the United States.