Italian conductor talent-spotted by maestro Zubin Mehta. Since making his opera debut in 2001 at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, Montanaro has earned plaudits for his conducting at numerous major opera houses including La Scala in Milan, Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Fondazione Arena in Verona, La Fenice, and the Deutsche Opera in Berlin. Acknowledged particularly for his skill with Italian operas, recent years have seen his reputation as a conductor soar.
Montanaro made his Japanese debut in 2009 conducting Madama Butterfly at the New National Theatre, Tokyo. Following on from this success, he made a second appearance in Japan in November 2012, this time for The Barber of Seville.