Saccani attended the 1983 summer conducting seminar for young conductors at Tanglewood where he worked with Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein and Maurice Abravanel.

During a seven-year apprenticeship with Italian conductor Giuseppe Patane, Saccani won top prize in the 1984 Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition[2] in Berlin.

Saccani was engaged to perform with the Berlin and Stuttgart Radio Orchestras, the Royal Danish Philharmonic and the Spoleto Festival.

Saccani made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Il trovatore and was re-engaged for the first international radio broadcast of Traviata and Aida.

[3] He returned to New York's Carnegie Hall and Washington's Kennedy Center that same year with the Iceland Symphony as their Music Director during their North American tour.