Carlo Ponti
Carlo Ponti is known for taking audiences of all ages on musical journeys of unique interpretive depth.
He has worked at the Conductor’s Institute in the U.S. under Harold Farberman, with Andrey Boreyko, Mehli Mehta and Zubin Mehta in Los Angeles, and furthered his studies in Europe at the Vienna Music Academy, under Leopold Hager and Erwin Accel.
Ponti was appointed associate conductor of the Russian National Orchestra in 2000. Performance highlights include heralded appearances in Russia and abroad, international tours and a historic concert in May 2010 at the Vatican celebrating the meeting of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox faiths in the presence of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and His Excellency Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev.
Celebrated as "a brilliant debut" (Audio and Record), Ponti's recording with the RNO of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition on Pentatone Classics quickly garnered critical acclaim. A second album with the RNO featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade was hailed as "superb" (All Music) and "a work in which every little instrumental timbre has a meaning all its own" (Audio Video Club of Atlanta).
Ponti has led the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de Valencia, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Pro Arte Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Ural Philharmonic, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Napa Valley Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Concert Orchestra, American Youth Symphony, and is music director of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra.
International festival appearances include Festival d’ Echternach, Festival Vancouver, Taichung Music Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Bratislava Spring Music Festival, St. Petersburg Palaces Music Festival, Festival Internacional de Musica de Villena, Napa Valley Festival del Sole, Tuscan Sun Festival, and the Köln Musik Triennale.
Ponti was awarded Italy’s Premio Galileo Award in 2006 for exceptional musical achievement. In the United States, he was the recipient of the 2008 Artistic Achievement Award from the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition and the 2009 Spirit of Hope Award from the Childhelp Foundation for his contributions to the development and advancement of young musical talent throughout the world. He was also the co-recipient of the Lupa di Roma Award bestowed upon him and his family in December 2011 by the Roman City Council on the heels of a unique orchestral performance in Rome honoring film producer Carlo Ponti, Sr.’s work.
Ponti’s work has been profiled on NPR, NBC, ABC, CBS Insider, Fox News, Leonard Lopate, Dennis Miller, Symphony Magazine and the Associated Press. His performances have been featured on American Public Media’s Performance Today and America’s Music Festivals radio programs.