Gastón Fournier-Facio

Gastón Fournier-Facio was born in Costa Rica where he got a Master’s degree in History at the local university. He then pursued his musical studies in England, at the University of Sussex, where he was awarded a Master’s degree in Musicology.

After holding the position of Minister Counsellor and Consul General at the Costa Rican Embassy in London, he has devoted himself to the activity of Artistic Coordinator at prestigious Italian lyrical and symphonic institutions (Biennale di Venezia, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia).

He has specialized in the Viennese culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular in the life and work of Gustav Mahler, to whom he has devoted several multi-media lectures, radio broadcasts and publications (by De Sono and Electa in Italy; by The Boydell Press in England). For the work in this field in 2005 he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art. He is the editor of Daniel Barenboim/Patrice Chéreau’s Dialoghi su Musica e Teatro. Tristano e Isotta (Feltrinelli, 2008) and Gustav Mahler. Il mio tempo verrà (il Saggiatore, 2010).

He is currently Artistic Coordinator of the Teatro alla Scala.