Renato Palumbo made his debut at just 18 years of age, conducting a full performance of Verdi’s Il Trovatore. It was an auspicious start for the Italian conductor, who would go on to become one of the world’s leading Verdi conductors.   Since then, Palumbo has worked with most of the world’s great opera companies, including the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, where he was appointed Music Director, and Opera Australia, having conducted our productions of Attila, Anna Bolena, Rigoletto, Verdi’s Requiem, La Traviata and Simon Boccanegra.   In 2021, Palumbo conducted our production of Ernani. In this conversation with our Artistic Director, Lyndon Terracini, Palumbo talks about tackling Verdi’s breakthrough opera for a contemporary audience, and what he learns from conducting Verdi every day. He also talks about his extraordinary debut and what drew him to music in the first place.