Giuseppe Palella
Italian-born artist Giuseppe Palella studied sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna, singing at the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna, and acting and contemporary music at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. After graduating, he learned his craft by collaborating with world-renowned directors such as Franco Zeffirelli and Luca Ronconi.
He designed costumes for some of the most famous operas such as Vincenzo Bellini's I Puritani, Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata, Rigoletto, Un ballo in maschera and Aida, Camille Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila, Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Gioachino Rossini's Guglielmo Tell, Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka, George Frideric Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Georges Bizet's Carmen, Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Elektra by Richard Strauss.
His designs have been used in productions at numerous renowned international opera houses, including the Theater St. Gallen, the Budapest State Opera, the Arena di Verona, the Korean National Opera in Seoul, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Theater Kiel, the Teatro Carcano in Milan, the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Wexford Opera Festival, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste, the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, the Staatstheater Kassel, and La Scala in Milan.
In 2019, Giuseppe Palella won the prestigious Abbiati Prize from Italian music critics for "Best Costume Designer," and in 2023, he was named "Costume Designer of the Year 2023" by the magazine Opernwelt.
His recent productions include Tosca by Giacomo Puccini at the Teatro La Fenice, Faust by Charles Gounod at the Teatro Massimo and the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège.
Giuseppe Palella was also responsible for the costumes for Turandot 2021 and Aida 2024 at the St. Margarethen Quarry.