Focusing his activity on the operatic repertoire, Paolo Arrivabeni collaborates with the most prestigious European opera houses, such as the Berlin Staatsoper and Berlin Deutsche Oper, Wiener Staatsoper, Leipzig Opernhaus, Zürich Opernhaus, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Semperopern in Dresden, Grand Theatre de Geneve, Opéra Bastille in Paris, Opéra de Lausanne, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, Opéra de Montecarlo, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Teatro de La Maestranza in Sevilla, Théâtre Municipal de Marseille, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Bunka Kaitan in Tokyo and Santa Fe Opera. M° Arrivabeni is frequently invited to conduct numerous orchestras in Italy and abroad, with a repertoire that includes operas of 19th century Italian composers, particularly Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi; he is also interested in Russian and German composers, conducting operas by Wagner, Strauss and Mussorgsky.
Paolo Arrivabeni has been the Music Director of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie from 2008 to 2017. In the past seasons in Liège he conducted: Nabucco, Macbeth, La Traviata, Lucrezia Borgia, Falstaff, Rigoletto, Boris Godunov, La Bohème, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Otello, Salome, Il Trovatore, La Forza del destino, I due Foscari, Der fliegende Holländer, Les Pêcheures de perles, Tosca, Fidelio, just to name a few. Later he conducted Le comte Ory in Geneva, Luisa Miller in Berlin Deutsche Oper, Macbeth and Petite messe solennelle in Marseille; La Favorite at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris; La Traviata, Don Carlo, Tosca, Simon Boccanegra and Macbeth in Dresden; Lucrezia Borgia in Munich; La Bohème and Il Trovatore at the Sferisterio Opera Festival in Macerata; and Macbeth in Copenhagen.
For his debut at the Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam, he conducted Rossini's Stabat Mater, which was broadcast by Radio Vara. In the past seasons M° Arrivabeni conducted: Macbeth, Maria Stuarda and Nabucco at the Staatsoper in Berlin; La Straniera, I due Foscari and Moïse et Pharaon in Marseille; Roberto Devereux in Florence; Lucrezia Borgia at the Munich Opera Festival; La Straniera in Vienna (Theater an der Wien); Don Giovanni in Monte Carlo. He then returned to the Bayerische Staatsoper to conduct Il Turco in Italia and gained great success conducting Un ballo in maschera in Palermo, La Bohème at the Terme di Caracalla in Rome, and Puccini's Messa di Gloria in Paris with the Orchestra National de France.
Most recently in Liège he conducted Macbeth, Ernani, Otello, Die Zauberflote, La Bohème, Turadot, Nabucco, Simon Boccanegra and Mozart's Requiem, a concert in Paris for Radio France; Tosca and Don Carlo in Dresden; La forza del destino in Geneva; I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Nabucco and L'Arlesiana at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; La Bohème at the New National Theatre in Tokyo and at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva; Boris Godunov, La Favorite, Lohengrin in Marseille; Maria Stuarda in Vienna (Theater an der Wien), at the Opera in Rome and in Berlin; Aida at the Chorégies d'Orange; La Rondine in Toulouse; L'italiana in Algeri in Madrid (Escorial) and in San Sebastian.
Plans include: Simon Boccanegra, Adriana Lecouvreur, Nabucco and a series of concerts in Marseille; Don Carlos in Liège; Otello and Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Boris Godunov at the Grand Théâtre de Geneve; and Tosca at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw.