Lorenzo Castriota Skanderbeg, orchestra director, was born in Rome in 1964. He completed his musical studies in trumpet, band instrumentation, composition and orchestral conducting at the "Santa Cecilia" music conservatory in Rome.

His career, as a conductor and composer, began at the very young age of 17. He conducts various "premieres" of pieces of his own composition including "Oratorio" for solo, choir and orchestra (1981) and "Profezia", a profane oratorio, for solo, choir, children's choir and orchestra (1984). In 1983 he became assistant to the famous and highly respected conductor Giuseppe Patanè, perfecting himself in the Italian opera repertoire. In addition, he attended master's courses in orchestral conducting with Masters F. Ferrara and L. Bernstein.

He collaborates as director and composer with various opera-symphonic institutions in Italy and abroad: San Remo Symphony Orchestra, Abruzzo Symphony Orchestra, Salerno Philharmonic Orchestra, Lecce Symphony Orchestra, Tirana Symphony Orchestra, Teatro dell'Opera di Rome, Teatro San Carlo of Naples, Opera of Bonn, Beethoven Halle Bonn, Opera of Plovdiv, Teatro Lirico of Cagliari, Philarmonia of Rome, Teatro Petruzzelli of Bari, Teatro Verdi of Trieste, Teatro Lirico of Grosseto, Filarmonica Marchigiana, Regional Orchestra of Lazio, I Solisti Aquilani, Philharmonics of Rome, Opera of Costanza (Romania), Opera of Split, Teatro Cervantes of Malaga (Spain), Teatro Pergolesi of Jesi, National Art Center, Daejeon (Korea), the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra ( principal guest conductor), the Slovene National Opera of Maribor (Slovenia) and the Philarmonic Orchestra Oulu (Finland) and recently replaced M° Metha in the 2010 Toyota Classic Asian tour with the Maggio Fiorentino (theatres and main auditoriums in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Mumbai (India), Bangkok (Thailand), Brunej (Sultanate of Brunej), Hanoi (Vietnam), Taipej (Taiwan), Seoul (Korea), Manila (Philippines).

Receives special mention at the 1st International Conducting Competition “Franco Ferrara”; Rome Opera House (1995).

He has held important artistic positions, including:

Permanent director of the “Novi Musici” orchestra of Naples; Advisor to the Superintendent of the Bonn Opera Theater (Germany) for the Contemporary Music Theater “Die Werkstattbühne der Oper Bonn”; Permanent conductor of the Umberto Giordano Symphony Orchestra of the Province of Foggia, since 2003 permanent director of the City of Grosseto, since 2004 permanent director of the Classical Orchestra of Alessandria, since 1997 permanent director of the opera season of the Santa Margherita Ligure festival, since 2000 permanent director of the "Umberto Giordano" International Lyric Festival of Foggia, since 2005 permanent director of the Festival " Opera in Piazza” in Oderzo and since 2004 permanent director at the Slovenian National Theater Maribor.

In 2001 he toured Japan (Tokyo) with the chamber orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and the baritone Renato Bruson and was director for the tour in England with I Solisti Aquilani. Again with I Solisti Aquilani he conducted an important concert of music by Arvo Pärt for the "Baratelli" concert company. Maestro Arvo Pärt declared (in writing) "a favorable positive opinion and a particular appreciation towards" the conducting art "of Maestro Castriota and expressed the desire to collaborate with him in Italy and around the world". This opinion was shared by his publisher Eric Marinitsch of Universal Edition, Vienna, with whom he has already begun an active collaboration. October 2002 he conducts I Solisti Aquilani on a tour in Spain (Escorial, Segovia Festival, Madrid). December 2004 he was invited with his “Città di Grosseto” orchestra to conduct Brahms, Beethoven and Wagner for the 150th anniversary of the Craiova Symphony (Romania).

He records for the “Pentaphon” Italy record company. For “Saturn live recordings” he recorded “Il Tabarro”, “Suor Angelica”, “Gianni Schicchi”, “La Traviata”, “Il Rigoletto”, “Falstaff”, “La Carmen”, “La Notte di un Neurasthenico” and “Pieces from the Great Nineteenth-Century Symphonic Repertoire”. In 2002 a disc was released with EMI containing symphonic pieces by Moussorgsky and Respighi performed by the Umberto Giordano Symphony Orchestra of the Province of Foggia.

In January 2004 he conducted the Addio Lirico Sinfonico concert with the Malaga Theater Orchestra (Spain) and the famous soprano Raina Kabaiwanska. In 2005 he returned to the Oderzo Opera Festival conducting Nabucco with the famous baritone Renato Bruson. He was reconfirmed as permanent director for 2005/2008 at the Slovenian National Theater Maribor where he was entrusted with the direction of the operas: Attila (Verdi), Faust (Gounod), Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (Mascagni/Leoncavallo) The Sleeping Beauty ( Tschaikovsky), Swan Lake (Tschaikovsky), Cinderella (Prokofiev). .2005 November he directed a Trovatore in San Severo (Teatro G. Verdi) with very positive reviews (e.g. Operaclick-Internet), with P. Giuliacci (Mandrico), A. Rezza (Leonora), E. Fiorillo (Azucena ) and B. Anderson (Conte di Luna). 2006 he conducts Tosca at the Oderzo Opera Festival with N. Martinucci and S. Carolli in the main roles. October 2006 he made his debut in Seoul (Korea) with Aida by G. Verdi. 2007 becomes principal guest conductor of the RTV Slovenia symphony orchestra. 2008 conducts the famous tenor Mario Malagnini in Oulu, Finnland. 2012 he became General Music Director of the Turkish National Opera in Samsun and was immediately invited as principal guest conductor at the Ankara National Theater conducting “MacBeth” and “Attila” by G. Verdi and repeating “Attila” at the Istanbul Opera Festival in 2013. With Thomas Hampson (American Baritone) he celebrates a great success in Turkey and this success is repeated in 2014 in Ankara with two symphony concerts with the Turkish Presidential Symphony.

Since 2016 he has become first guest conductor of the CSO Ankara (The presidential orchestra), and every year conducts the major symphony orchestras in Turkey (Adana, Bursa, Antalia, Ismir, Ankara, Samsun, Istanbul etc.), always called especially on the initiative of the orchestras themselves, who all want him as permanent director. However, Castriota remains the General Musical Director at the Turkish National Theater in Samsun, directing Tosca, Ballo in Maschera and Trovatore this season.

He was hired for the first time at the Puccini festival, 62nd edition, in Torre del Lago, for the direction of the opera Tosca with an exceptional cast: Tenor, Jorge de Leon, Soprano: Hui He, Baritone: Lucio Gallo. The success was very important as Maestro Castriota took over in the first of the production (his performance by contract was from the second) replacing Maestro Alberto Veronesi from the second act and without having done any rehearsals. It had a resounding success as both the public, national and international critics and the cast appreciated the event and the musical and interpretative direction. For the occasion, the composer's niece, Mrs. Simonetta Puccini, present in the audience, particularly complimented the Maestro, recognizing his technical and interpretative skills of the increasingly rare "Italian conducting tradition".

On 8 September 2002 he received the "Rocca d'Oro" Europa Leader Award together with the Honorable Rocco Buttiglione and Senator Susanna Agnielli for his professionalism in the international field of music. 2003 he received the “National Culture Prize 2003” conducting Nabucco at the Opera Festival in Split. Since 2006 M° Castriota has been elected President of the prestigious “Cappuccilli-Patanè-Respighi” International Competition in Opera Singing, Orchestra Conducting and Composition, organized and sponsored by Confartigianato/Anap Nazionale with offices in Zurich, Alessandria, Lecce, Campobasso and Grosseto . In May 2008 he received the prestigious “Sebetia-Ter” Lifetime Achievement Award in Naples which was given in other editions to the Masters Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Mikkis Teodorakis and Aldo Piccolini. He teaches Orchestral Practice at the “Lorenzo Perosi” Conservatory of Music in Campobasso.