Beatrice Venezi
Beatrice Venezi is Principal Conductor of the Orchestra Milano Classica and of the Orchestra Scarlatti Young, Naples
Born in 1990, she graduated in Piano in 2010 at the Conservatory of Siena under M° Norberto Capelli and attended masterclasses of Pianistic Interpretation under M° Lucchesini, M° De Maria and M° Balzani. She further graduated in Orchestra Conducting under M° Vittorio Parisi at the Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan in 2015 achieving the score of 110/110 cum laude. She continued her studies under M° Piero Bellugi in Florence, M° Gianluigi Gelmetti at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena and M° John Axelrod, of whom she has worked as Assistant. She studied Composition under M° Gaetano Giani Luporini. Beatrice started her career as a répétiteur and vocal coach and made her symphonic début in 2012.
Up to now, she has led several orchestras both in Italy and abroad, including: the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, the Orchestra della Fondazione Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste, the Orchestra della Magna Grecia, the Orchestra Filarmonica Campana, the Orchestra Filarmonica di Lucca, the Orchestra Filarmonica di Benevento, the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina, the Orchestra of the Foundation Bulgaria Classic, the Orchestra and choir of the Teatro Bolshoij of Minsk, the National Philharmonic Orchestra Odessa. Over the years, she has worked on several renowned festivals, including the New European Festival of Stuttgart and the Bellagio and Lago di Como Festival. In 2014 she held the opening concert of the 50th edition of the Pontino Festival of contemporary music, and in 2015, she worked at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence with M° John Axelrod, for the production of Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide”.
She performed with the “Nuova Orchestra Scarlatti”, the former RAI orchestra of Naples, for the first time in November 2014 and has been a constant guest since. Many other concerts followed, then in 2016 she was appointed Principal Conductor of the “Orchestra Scarlatti Young”, established in 2015 in the heart of the senior orchestra. Taking part in the Aram Khachaturian Conducting Competition in 2016 in Yerevan she was approached after the very first round by the artistic director of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra who offered to appoint her as Assistant Conductor, a position she held for two years.
In summer 2016 she debuted at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago with Ferruccio Busoni’s opera, ‘Turandot’ and in the following year she debuted at the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut and at the State Opera House of Georgia, as well as the Orchestra della Toscana, the Ukrainian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Classical Orchestra of Madeira. Beatrice Venezi returned to the 63rd Puccini Festival in 2017 to conduct the centenary production of ‘La Rondine’, resulting in her being appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Puccini Festival.
In 2018 year she made first appearances at the Sofia Opera, the National Theatre Ivan Zajc in Rijeka, the Sofia Philharmonic, the Japan Virtuoso Symphony Orchestra at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Orchestra Milano Classica, Belorusian State Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra and within the framework of the Lucca Classica Music Festival. In Lucca, the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini, on the open-air stage of the Lucca Summer Festival – one of the major festivals for pop and rock music in Italy – she created the Puccini Day, a concert for nearly 5,000 people dedicated to the Maestro for his 160th anniversary.
In 2019 she debuted in Argentina at the Teatro del Libertador San Martín with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Córdoba, in Canada at Casa Loma with the Toronto Concert Orchestra, at the Fondazione Pergolesi-Spontini in Jesi and the New Japan Philharmonic at the Triphony Hall in Tokyo. In September she opened her inaugural season as Principal Conductor of the Milano Classica and gave concerts with the Orchestra della Toscana. The following month saw the release of her first CD for Warner Classics, ‘My Journey’, featuring the symphonic and orchestral works of Puccini, recorded with the Orchestra della Toscana. In December she conducted a new production of ‘Carmen’ at the Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi, with further performances at the Teatro della Fortuna in Fano in January last year. In February she made her debut with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale and was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra della Toscana.
Covid-19 saw the postponement of concerts with the Nagoya Philharmonic, Milano Classica, Toronto Concert Orchestra and the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, but last year she made her debut in a concert with the Orchestra of La Fenice, gave concerts in Croatia and a performance of the complete orchestral works of Puccini in a streamed concert from Firenze with the ORT. She also made her debut conducting a gala concert at the Mascagni Festival, to which she returned this year. In February she made her French debut with ‘Madama Butterfly’ at the Opéra-Théâtre de Metz Métropole, to which she returns in 2022. and 2023. Beatrice also made a hugely successful UK debut at Opera Holland Park, conducting ‘L’amico Fritz’ to universal praise in the British press. This year saw her record her second CD for Warners Classics.
Earlier this year she gave important debuts at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania (‘Le nozze di Figaro’) and Teatro Lirico Cagliari (‘La Traviata’) then ths sumer saw her first season as Artistic Director of the Taormina Arte where she conducted a new production of ‘Il Trittico’. Other 2023 highlights included concerts with the Nuovo Orchestra Scarlatti, the Pomeriggi Musicali, Orchestra Sinfonica Rossini and Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana. Last year she made her debut with the Orchestre National Avignon-Provence and conducted a series of performances of Stravinsky’s ‘L’Histoire du soldat’ at the famous Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. She made her debut at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste in December with ‘Die Zauberflote’ then returned to the Opera de Nice twice, for a new ballet and the Orchestra’s New Year Concert.
This year she has conducted two sets of concerts with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana and in March returns to Cagliari for Tosca. Other highlights this year include her debut at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, a return to the Centenary Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago and her second Taormina Arte Festival.
“More of a surprise was the utterly idiomatic style of the City of London Sinfonia under Beatrice Venezi, making her London debut in style by stepping out in a gorgeous red dress with long flowing hair, la Poesia incarnate, not the preferred mode of a woman conductor. Could she actually cut the mustard, or rather the panettone pudding? From the first bars, the answer was a full-hearted “si”. Very little in the score outstays its welcome, and Venezi has the idiom in spades: what a find is this third of OHP’s three women conductors, their espousal in marked contrast to other opera companies this summer.” ARTSDESK
“Making her London debut, conductor Beatrice Venezi scores a big success in a reading that is both assured and sensitive to the score’s many nuances.” EVENING STANDARD
“Making a highly auspicious UK debut is conductor Beatrice Venezi, whose rhythmic flexibility and palpable engagement help maintain the highest musical standards.” THE STAGE
“But it never offends against the charm of Mascagni’s core and the music is delivered so well, by the glamorous Italian conductor, Beatrice Venezi, and a strong trio of principals.” SUNDAY TIMES
“Conductor Beatrice Venezi ensured superb playing from the smaller group of players. It was impossible not to notice the suave woodwind phrasing early on, or the passion of the Intermezzo, and Venezi’s clear rapport with both singers and instruments in terms of flexibility, and the ability to establish tempi quickly, paid huge dividends.” SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL
“Conductor Beatrice Venezi had made her UK debut at the beginning of this run and I certainly hope she will be back soon. She drew fine, idiomatic playing from the City of London Sinfonia who clearly relished the complexities of Mascagni’s score with its use of instrumental interludes to develop the drama. They were playing an orchestral reduction by Pocket Publications, but we hardly noticed so strong was the character Venezi drew from the players.” PLANET HUGILL
“La cheffe d’orchestre Beatrice Venezi, Lucquoise d’à peine 30 ans, dirige une partition légèrement réduite due à Ettore Panizza. Celle-ci est moins luxuriante que l’orchestration habituelle, ce qui étonne nos oreilles mais convient mieux à la mise en scène assez froide de Giovanna Spinelli et permet de gérer un ensemble moins étoffé, placé en grande partie au parterre. On remarque particulièrement de sa part une gestion très fluide des cordes à l’acte III, et un art de la progression dramatique très accompli: la tension ne cesse de croître dans cet acte, jusqu’à des climax orchestraux magnifiquement dosés (et quelles bouleversantes timbales dans les scènes finales!). Le chœur maison, dirigé par Nathalie Marmeuse, lui apporte une contribution à la hauteur de sa réputation, notamment dans un chœur à bouche fermée d’une belle délicatesse.”
CONCERTONET.COM
“Nommons, en tête, la cheffe Beatrice Venezi ; ayant à peine passé la trentaine, elle fait preuve de subtilité, en laissant parler la partition dans ce qu’elle a de plus sensible. Un travail de précision et de finesse, où excelle l’Orchestre National de Metz.”
DAILY POST