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Francesco Milioto Principal Conductor         |
  Francesco Milioto, born in Canada of Italian parentage, begins his fourth season with the Highland Park Strings in his new post as Principal Conductor after serving as assistant conductor since 2004. A bright star in the Chicago musical community whose reputation is growing as opera and symphonic conductor, as well as pianist and vocal coach, he elicits touch-tone response from his players and brings well thought out interpretations to each piece he performs. His history with the Strings already includes conducting two tours to Puerto Vallarta, in 2004 and 2006, and two Kraft Kids concerts at Ravinia in 2005 and 2006. He embarks on the 2007-2008 season with another new conducting role as Music Director of the Skokie Valley Symphony. Co-founder and conductor of the New Millennium Orchestra (NMO) since its inception in 2005, Milioto has presented as guest soloists such luminaries as Chicago Symphony cellist Katinka Kleijn and principal flute Mathieu Dufour.  Additionally, he directed Opera Theatre North in a variety of productions and currently is involved with the company’s workshop for teens. On the horizon is a tour with his school show “Not Just Figaro!” in collaboration with Urban Gateways. In 2006 and 2007, he served as guest Music Director of Opera Elgin and, in 2007, as guest conductor for the DePaul University Opera School. In his fourth season as pianist/assistant conductor at the Ravinia Festival, he played for Lynn Harrell and James Galway, and assisted James Conlon in the production of Madame Butterfly. Milioto holds a master of music degree in orchestral conducting and opera accompaniment from McGill University and a bachelor of music with honors and distinction in piano performance from the University of Western Ontario. Fluent in Italian and French with functional German at his command, he also is a graduate of the Sessione Sienese per la Musica e l’Arte, Siena, Italy. |
