To be a conductor is to be a sportsman: Your body has to be in good shape,” says Lyric Opera of Chicago music director Enrique Mazzola. “Conducting opera means standing on the podium three hours — four if you do Wagner — with constant movement of the arms.” The Streeterville resident stays trim through diet and exercise, including breaststroke laps in the pool of the former John Hancock Center, where he lives (or in the lake during the summer), and speed walking around the Loop. Born into a musical family in Barcelona, the 56-year-old maestro moved to Milan at 5. Today, he speaks four languages (five if you count his “survival German”) and conducts all over the world. His next production is the new English-language opera The Listeners, premiering March 30 — a run bookended by his conducting in Berlin and Tokyo.

Walk this way

“I love the swimming pool, but what I do most is walk. It’s not just a promenade for window-shopping. I’m very determined. To arrive at the Lyric from the Hancock, I turn at red lights, so I almost never stop. In fact, I never use Michigan Avenue. I don’t want to get stuck with the tourists.”

Caffeinated evolution

“After many years of struggle with myself, I bought a Nespresso machine. The pods travel the Atlantic with me — good Italian pods. My most recent man-in-his-50s habit is that my first café au lait is decaf. Midmorning, I indulge in real cappuccino. I have barley coffee also — in Italy we have this afternoon tradition called caffè d’orzo. And so I found an Italian company producing Nespresso pods of barley coffee.”

Pasta predicament

“For me, it became a discipline to eat well: protein, fiber, carbs. It doesn’t mean that I control how many grams I have of this or that; it means I consider what I’m eating. As an Italian, I could eat spaghetti and be happy — but no, I tend never to eat spaghetti in the evening, because the carbs are difficult to burn. I choose fish with vegetables to finish the day.”

Alternative meditation

“I like to make risotto. It requires a lot of time. You need a good 30 minutes of philosophical pot-turning with the rice. This I like very much — the meditation. And when I’m conducting in cities around the Alps, I like to go hiking. I do many miles per day. It’s body training — the day after, muscles are sore, but good sore. And it’s also mind training, you know? On the scenic paths, it can be a good way to focus on a music problem, and I can solve it while I’m walking.”