German-Brazilian conductor and répétiteur André Callegaro is Conductor in Residence of the Royal Swedish Orchestra. In autumn 2026, he conducts Puccini’s Tosca at the Royal Swedish Opera as well as the season’s final performance of Così fan tutte – the last performance at the Opera House before it closes for renovation.
As Conductor in Residence, Callegaro works closely with Music Director Alan Gilbert and the Royal Swedish Opera’s guest conductors on the musical preparation of the Opera’s productions, while also conducting a number of opera and ballet performances himself. During the 2025/26 season, he conducted productions including the double bill Lifar/Forsythe, Swan Lake, Die Zauberflöte, Romeo and Juliet and Madama Butterfly, as well as several concerts marking the Royal Swedish Orchestra’s 500th anniversary.
Callegaro studied orchestral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar. During his studies, he conducted orchestras including Staatskapelle Weimar, Jenaer Philharmonie, Nordböhmische Philharmonie Teplice and the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra. He also studied with Mark Stringer at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien and took part in masterclasses with Christian Thielemann, Peter Eötvös, Giancarlo Andretta and Jorma Panula. As a collaborative pianist specialising in art song, he was awarded a special prize for outstanding accompaniment at the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach in 2015.
Callegaro was a member of the Bayerische Staatsoper’s international opera studio from 2016 to 2018 and subsequently worked at Mainfranken Theater Würzburg, where he conducted productions including Hänsel und Gretel, Rigoletto and King Arthur. In 2020, he became a vocal coach for the opera programme at the Theaterakademie August Everding and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. As an assistant conductor and répétiteur, he has worked on productions at Oper Leipzig, the Bayreuth Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, Theater an der Wien and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, alongside conductors including Daniele Rustioni, Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Kirill Petrenko.
Callegaro made his conducting debut at the Royal Opera House in London in 2023 with Handel’s Arminio, conducting the Orchestra of the Early Opera Company. The same year, he made his conducting debut on the main stage at Covent Garden as part of the Jette Parker Artists Programme. He returned in summer 2024 to conduct Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles and has since conducted Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers at Theater Aachen.
