Domenico Alfano is Principal Flute of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna Orchestra and the Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna.
He graduated with highest honors in Flute from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music in Rome under the guidance of Domenico Faliero, and subsequently studied with Carlo Tamponi and Patrick Gallois. He further refined his studies at the Brescia Conservatory with Maurizio Scappini and Bruno Cavallo.
In 1989, after winning the orchestral audition, he joined the RAI Symphony Orchestra of Rome as section flutist. In 1990 he won the audition for flute and piccolo, and in 1991 the position of Principal Flute with the Orchestra of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, where he performed regularly until 1993.
From 1994 to 2012, he served as flutist at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, performing as Principal Flute, section flutist, and piccolo player as required. Since 2002, he has collaborated with both the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala and the Filarmonica della Scala in Milan, participating in numerous tours throughout Italy and abroad. He has also collaborated with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
As Principal Flute, he has performed with the Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and the Filarmonica della Scala.
Throughout his orchestral career, he has worked under the baton of many of the world’s leading conductors, including Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniele Gatti, Riccardo Chailly, Fabio Luisi, Sir Antonio Pappano, Georges Prêtre, Gary Bertini, Daniel Harding, and Valery Gergiev.
Alongside his orchestral career, Alfano has maintained an active chamber music profile, collaborating with ensembles such as New Music Studium, Orpheus Ensemble (dedicated to contemporary music), and Choros Ensemble, of which he is a co-founder. He has performed at many of Italy’s most prestigious festivals and concert series, including the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, the Venice Biennale, the GOG Concert Society of Genoa, the Bologna Festival, Milano Musica, the Sala Verdi Concert Series, and the Turin Contemporary Arts Festival. He has also collaborated with I Solisti del San Carlo, I Solisti di Santa Cecilia, I Cameristi della Scala, and I Solisti della Scala.
In 2003, he founded and became Artistic Director of Janua Coeli Globus, an ensemble combining chamber music with dramatic theatre. Among its productions were Il Credo by Giuseppe Mazzini, which inaugurated the celebrations for Genoa European Capital of Culture 2004, followed by La Canzone del Sangue by Gabriele D’Annunzio, Otto Tempi per un Presagio by Bruno Rombi, and Sotto le Ali Divine, based on the works of Jacopone da Todi, presented at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto.
As a soloist, he has performed concertos by Domenico Cimarosa, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Saverio Mercadante, and Johann Sebastian Bach with the Genoa Chamber Orchestra. In 2009, he performed François Borne’s Fantaisie Brillante sur Carmen at the Seoul Arts Center with the Gunpo Symphony Orchestra.
An internationally respected teacher, Alfano has given masterclasses throughout Italy and abroad. In May 2009, he conducted a series of flute masterclasses at leading music universities in South Korea. The same year, he was invited to teach at a European Union-sponsored flute masterclass in Finale Ligure alongside Andrea Oliva, Davide Formisano, and Wolfgang Auer.
Since 2008, he has been Professor of Flute at the Janua Coeli Academy under the artistic direction of Giulio Franzetti. Since 2015, he has taught at the Impullitti School of Music in Bologna, and since 2016 he has led advanced flute courses at the Mascagni School of Music in Medicina (Bologna).
In August 2010, upon invitation of the Presidency of the Dominican Republic, he served as flute professor for the training program of the Santo Domingo Youth Orchestra. In 2017, he was invited as a distinguished guest artist to participate in the 18th Japan Flute Convention.