Carlo Palleschi was born in Terni, Italy. He pursued his musical studies at the “G. Briccialdi” Music Institute in Terni and at the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome, the “Luigi Cherubini” Conservatory in Florence and the “Francesco Morlacchi” Conservatory in Perugia, earning diplomas in Piano, Composition, Orchestral Conducting, and Choral Music and Choral Conducting.

He made his conducting debut in 1992 at the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto with Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, having been called upon to replace the conductor just two days before the opening performance and conducting the opera from memory. The great success of this debut marked the beginning of an intensive international career encompassing both the operatic and symphonic repertoire.

In 1996, following his debut in South Korea with the country’s first performance of Falstaff, he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Korean Symphony Orchestra in Seoul. From 2000 to 2005 he served as Artistic Director and Music Director of the Orchestra of the Fondazione Tito Schipa in Lecce, with which he presented more than one hundred symphonic productions. In 2004 he was also appointed Artistic Director of the Teatro Greco in Lecce. Since 2007 he has been a principal Music Director of the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale “A. Belli” di Spoleto. Since 2013 he has served as Artistic Director of the KSIOC Opera Company International in Seoul, and in 2018 he was appointed Music Director of the Koyang Symphony Orchestra and the New Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

His repertoire includes more than fifty operas and an extensive symphonic repertoire, including the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann and Tchaikovsky, as well as a substantial part of the works of Mozart, Schubert, Bruckner, Mahler, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, de Falla, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev and Stravinsky.

Throughout his career, he has been a guest conductor at major international opera houses and festivals. He has conducted Aida and Carmen at the Arena di Verona; Madama Butterfly and La Traviata at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa; Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze; Simon Boccanegra and Tosca at the Sferisterio di Macerata; La sonnambula at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania; Le Villi at the Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago; La Bohème at the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv; and La Traviata, Il barbiere di Siviglia and Aida at the Arena of Avenches.

In South Korea he has conducted numerous productions at the National Opera in Seoul, including Falstaff, I Puritani, Otello, Carmen, La Traviata, La Bohème, Macbeth and Samson et Dalila. In 2003 he conducted in Seoul the major production of Turandot staged at the Korea-Japan World Cup Stadium and directed by Zhang Yimou.

In Japan he has conducted, among other works, La sonnambula and La Bohème at the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo. In 2006 he led the Japanese tour of the Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania with La sonnambula, while with the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto he conducted a tour of La Bohème comprising fourteen performances.

He has been regularly invited to the Festival de Musique in Strasbourg, where his engagements have included an operatic gala with the Orchestra of the Teatro Verdi di Trieste and two performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem.

His symphonic career has brought him to the podium of numerous international orchestras, including the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio, the Budapest Philharmonic, the Czech National Orchestra, the KBS Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, the Kyiv Philharmonic, the Lausanne Sinfonietta, the Chorus and Orchestra of the Fondazione Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania, the Orchestra of the Teatro Verdi di Trieste and the Toronto Sinfonietta.

He has conducted in prestigious international concert halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Philharmonie and Schauspielhaus in Berlin, the Alte Oper and Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt, the Tchaikovsky Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Glenn Gould Auditorium in Toronto, the Hermitage Theatre in St Petersburg, the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and the Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul.

Among the singers with whom he has collaborated are Piero Cappuccilli, Leo Nucci, Renato Bruson, Carlo Guelfi, Raina Kabaivanska, Luigi Alva, Nicola Martinucci, Giovanna Casolla, Katia Ricciarelli, Deborah Voigt, Fiorenza Cossotto, Bruna Baglioni, Mariella Devia, Lando Bartolini, Gianfranco Cecchele, José Cura, Carlo Colombara, Ruggero Raimondi, Daniela Barcellona, Norma Fantini, María José Montiel, Simone Piazzola, Maria Agresta, Veronica Simeoni and Ramón Vargas.

In the symphonic repertoire he has collaborated with internationally renowned soloists including Igor Oistrakh, Aldo Ciccolini, Alicia de Larrocha, Paul Badura-Skoda, Olga Kern, Hans-Jörg Schellenberger, Rocco Filippini, Calogero Palermo, Joaquín Achúcarro, Roberto Cappello, Mun Ji-yeong, Beatrice Rana and Shin Jia.

His activities in Lecce were particularly extensive. As Music Director of the Orchestra of the Fondazione Tito Schipa and Artistic Director of the Teatro Greco, he conducted numerous opera productions, including Macbeth, Le Villi, Il trittico, Turandot, Il viaggio a Reims, Fedora, Andrea Chénier, Aida, I due Foscari, Il Corsaro, Carmen and Adriana Lecouvreur. Il Corsaro was also recorded and broadcast by RAI, the Italian national broadcaster.

With the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto he has conducted, among other works, Un ballo in maschera, La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Il trovatore, Rigoletto, L’elisir d’amore, Turandot and Macbeth.

His artistic career has developed internationally across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America, with a particularly significant presence in Italy and South Korea. Alongside his conducting career, he has pursued extensive activities in musical education, arts administration and artistic direction.