In the next decade he conducts at Spoleto and at Charleston a series of operas which will establish him a reputation: Menotti's Maria Golovin, The Last Savage and The Saint of Bleecker Street, and also Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth from Mtsensk and Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra to great acclaim.
In 1990 he conducted the Metropolitan Gala opening the season with La bohème, the cast including Plácido Domingo and Mirella Freni.
At Wiener Staatsoper he performed as a conductor for 19 times between 1992 and 1995 in operas like Tosca, Aida, Le contes d'Hoffmann, Otello and La bohème.
The most notable of these was the premiere of Les contes d'Hoffmann in 1993, staged by Andrei Șerban and with a cast including Plácido Domingo, Natalie Dessay, Barbara Frittoli and Bryn Terfel.
He is regularly invited to the Royal Opera House of Covent Garden with 32 appearances as conductor in La bohème, Tosca and Turandot.