Roberto De Clara, Conductor & Music Director

Active in both symphonic and operatic conducting, Roberto De Clara is currently celebrating his tenth season as Music Director of the Oakville Symphony. Mr. De Clara is also the newly appointed Artistic Director of the Etobicoke Philharmonic, where he began his first season in October of this year.

Mr. De Clara's guest conducting has included engagements with orchestras in Canada and abroad including: the Winnipeg Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, Orchestra London, Vienna Pro Arte Orchestra and the orchestra of the National Theatre in Prague. His European operatic debut took place in the historic Estates Theatre in Prague, conducting a new production of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte for the National Theatre of the Czech Republic. He has also served as a guest conductor for highly successful productions of Gianni Sschicci and Don Pasquale for the Israel Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv.

Mr. De Clara began his professional career as Assistant Conductor of both the Hamilton Philharmonic and Opera Hamilton. A summa cum laude graduate of McMaster University, he also holds diplomas in conducting from the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Conducting Seminar (Meisterkurse) of the Vienna Conservatory. He has also studied conducting at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy; the Aspen Music Festival in the USA and in a number of international conducting seminars in Sofia, Prague and the USA led by Gustav Meier (Former head of the Conducting Seminar at Tanglewood) and Rossen Milanov (Associate Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra). His principal conducting teachers have included Jiri Belohlavek (Prague), Boris Brott (Toronto), Julius Kalmar (Vienna), Ferdinand Leitner (Salzburg), Gustav Meier and Victor Feldbrill (Toronto).

Roberto De Clara has been the recipient of numerous awards including: First Prize in the Austrian-Television Radio (O.R.F.) Conducting Competition in Salzburg, the Heinz Unger Conducting Award in Toronto and scholarships from the Canada Council, the Joel Fan Foundation (U.S.A.) and the Canada-Israel Cultural Foundation. He currently resides in Hamilton with his wife Anna and their son, Anthony.