CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE

Carlo Ponti jr. / Biography

Carlo Ponti Jr. has rapidly established himself on the international scene as one of the most imaginative of his generation of conductors.

He began his musical studies in Paris as pianist and was a prizewinner in several competitions including the ‘Claude Khan’ and ‘Radio France’ International Piano Competitions.

Maestro Ponti has worked at the Conductor's Institute in Hartford, Connecticut under the direction of Maestro Harold Farberman. He has also privately studied with Maestros Zubin Mehta and Mehli Mehta, Maestro Andrey Boreyko, and specialized at the Vienna Music Academy under Maestros Leopold Hager and Erwin Accel.

Ponti's debut with the Russian National Orchestra in Moscow met with critical praise and led to his appointment in 2000 as Associate Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra. In 2001 Ponti was named Music Director and Principal Conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra in the United States, a position recently extended through the 2014-2015 Season. In this post, he has attracted much attention for raising the artistic level of the orchestra, broadening its audience base, and innovative programming.

Carlo Ponti, Jr. is in demand as guest conductor and has appeared with, among others, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg in France, the Orchestra Del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Italy, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia and Orquesta de Valencia in Spain, the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela, Vienna 's Pro Arte Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Ural Philharmonic and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in Russia. Additional performance invitations include, among others, the Munchner Rundfunkorchester, Hamburg Symphony and Jena Philharmonic in Germany, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Napa Valley Symphony Orchestra and the Peoria Symphony Orchestra in the United States, the Berne Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland, the Budapest Concert Orchestra in Hungary, the Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, the Armenian Philharmonic, the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, the Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo, the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina , the Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia and the Orchestra di Bari in Italy, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and the Nizhni-Novgorod Symphony Orchestra in Russia.

International music festival appearances and invitations include Festival Vancouver in Canada, the Lake Tahoe Music Festival, the Festival Del Sole in Italy and in the United States, the Festival d' Echternach in France, the Taichung Music Festival in Taiwan, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Festival Della Valle D’Itria in Italy, the Bratislava Spring Music Festival in Slovakia, the St. Petersburg Palaces Music Festival in Russia, the Festival Internacional de Musica de Villena in Spain and the Koln Musik Triennale at the Kolner Philharmonie in Germany.

Maestro Ponti is committed to encouraging and educating young talent and, in addition to regularly holding master classes in orchestral conducting for students of all ages, has been invited to work and perform with leading youth orchestras such as the American Youth Symphony, the UCLA Philharmonia and the Young Musicians' Foundation Orchestra in the United States.

Following his critically acclaimed Italian debut with the Orchestra Del Maggio Musicale in Florence, Maestro Ponti was awarded Italy’s prestigious Premio Galileo Award in 2006 for exceptional musical achievement. One of Italy’s highest cultural honors, it is co-sponsored by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Foundation and is under the patronage of the President of Italy. Maestro Ponti was also the recipient in the United States of the 2008 International Artistic Achievement Award from the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition for his significant contributions to the development and advancement of young musical talent throughout the world.

Carlo Ponti’s debut recording, featuring works by Mussorgsky and recorded with the Russian National Orchestra for PentaTone Classics, will be released in 2008.