Donato Renzetti

Donato Renzetti is one of the most respected conductors of the Italian school. He was awarded the 1976 «Premio Respighi» by the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, the bronze medal at the 1978 Ernst Ansermet Competition in Geneva, and in 1980 he was the winner of the «Guido Cantelli Competition» at the Teatro alla Scala.

Renzetti has conducted many of the most esteemed orchestras including the London Sinfonietta, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, DSO Berlin, Tokyo Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, all the RAI Orchestras, Dallas Symphony, Belgian Radio and Television Orchestra in Brussels, Orchestre National du Capitol de Toulouse, and Orchestre National de Lyon.

He has lead opera productions in the world’s greatest opera houses, such as the Opéra de Paris, Covent Garden in London, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Capitole de Toulouse, Metropolitan Opera in New York, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, and in all the major theatres in Italy. He has been a guest conductor at festivals in Glyndebourne, Spoleto and Pesaro as well as the Verdi Festival in Parma.

Principal Conductor of the Orchestra Regionale Toscana between 1987 and 1992, from 2004 to 2007 Renzetti was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Real de Sao Carlos and Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana from 2007 to 2013. In 2015 he was appointed Music Director of the Filarmonica Gioachino Rossini.

His intense recording activity includes works by Schubert, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Mayr and Cherubini on labels like Philips Classics, Frequenz, Fonit Cetra, Nuova Era and Dynamic. His opera recordings include Attila, Il signor Bruschino, La cambiale di matrimonio and La Favorita; on DVD he has recorded La Fille du régiment at the Teatro alla Scala, La Cenerentola at the Glyndebourne Festival, La Gioconda at the Arena di Verona and L’italiana in Algeri at the Pesaro Opera Festival. His recording of Schumann’s Manfred with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala won the XIX Premio della Critica Discografica Italiana. With the Filarmonica Gioachino Rossini he has also recorded the complete Rossini Overtures, released on Opus Arte in April 2018.

Donato Renzetti is a dedicated teacher. For 30 years, he has taught conducting at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese, where most of the great Italian conductors of today have been his pupils, from Gianandrea Noseda to Michele Mariotti. In 2019 he moved his teaching activities to the Alta Scuola di Perfezionamento di Saluzzo, in partnership with the Filarmonica Teatro Regio Torino.

Recent engagements include opera productions at Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, NCPA of Beijing, New National Theatre Tokyo, Teatro Regio Torino as well as concerts in Venice, Teatro La Fenice and at the Rossini Opera Festival. In October 2019 Donato Renzetti made his debut with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, presenting the monumental Symphony No. 2 by Alfredo Casella for the first time in Finland.