Mario Venzago

“Under the attentive, even loving direction of star guest conductor Mario Venzago, the orchestra plays with striking clarity, alertness, vitality, and wonderful opulence.”

 

Conducting is the greatest fulfillment of Mario Venzago’s life – he has wanted to do it from an early age on. Imagination and a willingness to take risks characterize his very own style and have allowed him to conduct concerts, recordings, operas and increasingly so, his own compositions around the world for some years now.

Mario Venzago was, until summer 2021 and for 11 years, the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Bern Symphony Orchestra. Before that, he was Principal Conductor or General Music Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Basque National Orchestra in San Sebastian, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Graz Opera und Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Frankfurt (now Bremen), the Theatre and Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Heidelberg and the Musikkollegium Winterthur. From 2010 to 2014 he was Principal Conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, from 2010 to 2019 Artist in Association of the Finnish Tapiola Sinfonietta and from 2000 to 2003 Artistic Director of the Baltimore Summer Fest, as successor to Pinchas Zukermann and David Zinman. The season 2025/26 takes him, among other orchestras, back to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra Heidelberg, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, to Singapore, and to the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic.

Mario Venzago has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the orchestras in Philadelphia and Boston, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Filarmonica della Scala and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest conductor with internationally renowned orchestras such as the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Frankfurter Museumsorchester. He has given concerts with the world’s most famous soloists, and collaborated for opera productions with directors such as Ruth Berghaus, Peter Konwitschny and Hans Neuenfels.

Several of his CDs won international prizes such as the Grand Prix du Disque, the Diapason d’Or de l‘Année and the Edison Award. His recordings of the operas Venus as well as Penthesilea and of all the choral works by Othmar Schoeck received great international recognition and prestigious awards, as did the film, My Brother the Conductor by Alberto Venzago, which was shown in cinemas across Europe and released on DVD. The project The other Bruckner with the recording of all ten symphonies, whose individual releases were acclaimed by international critics, was released by cpo. A collaboration with Sony Classical led to the spectacular recording of Franz Schubert’s Finished Unfinished Symphony with the Kammerorchester Basel, completed and conducted by Mario Venzago, as well as the recording of all serenades and symphonies by Johannes Brahms. Further CD projects include recordings of Othmar Schoeck’s opera Schloss Dürande in a new version with the Bern Symphony Orchestra and the cantata Vom Fischer un syner Fru with the Musikkollegium Winterthur (both Claves). Most recently a recording of the reconstructed 7th Symphony by Schubert with the Bern Symphony Orchestra as released by Prospero in 2022, a suite from Bernard Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra was released on Chandos Records, and also Paganini’s 1st Violin Concerto with 15-year-old Chloe Chua again with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra on Pentatone/Naxos.

In addition to his activity as a conductor, Mario Venzago recently has increasingly devoted himself to his passion for composition. In 2021 he premiered his violin concerto with Soyoung Yoon and the Bern Symphony Orchestra. In 2026, his piano concerto will receive its world premiere with Claire Huangci and the Philharmonic Orchestra Heidelberg. His three orchestral works will also be performed multiple times in the upcoming season. Various other works, including two operas, are currently in preparation for publication by Universal Edition.

Season 2025/2026 | Photo: Alberto Venzago| Quotation: Mainpost, 5 June 2025
Amendments or edits need the consent of Künstlersekretariat Astrid Schoerke GmbH

Examples for orchestra programs

Program 1
M. Venzago Violin concerto
Bruckner Symphony No. 4 E-flat major WAB 104 Romantic

Program 2
J. S. Bach Toccata and fugue in D minor (orch. L. Stokowksy)
Berg 3 Orchesterstücke op. 6
Ravel Daphnis und Chloe, 2. Suite (with or without choir)
Ravel La Valse

Program 3
A. Honegger Symphony No. 3 Symphonie liturgique 
or
Rosenberg Symphony No. 3
Beethoven Symphony No. 3 E-flat major op. 55 Eroica

Program 4
R. Schumann Symphony No. 3 E-flat major op. 97 Rheinische
R. Schumann Symphony No. 2 C major op. 61

Program 5
Webern Passacaglia op. 1
Mozart Symphony No. 38 D major K 504 Prague
Brahms Symphony No. 3 F major op. 90

Program 6
Schubert Symphony No. 8 D759 Finished Unfinished (reconstrution M. Venzago)
F. Mendelssohn Symphony No. 5 op. 107 Reformationssinfonie (original version)

Examples for orchestra programs

Program 1
M. Venzago Violin concerto
Bruckner Symphony No. 4 E-flat major WAB 104 Romantic

Program 2
J. S. Bach Toccata and fugue in D minor (orch. L. Stokowksy)
Berg 3 Orchesterstücke op. 6
Ravel Daphnis und Chloe, 2. Suite (with or without choir)
Ravel La Valse

Program 3
A. Honegger Symphony No. 3 Symphonie liturgique 
or
Rosenberg Symphony No. 3
Beethoven Symphony No. 3 E-flat major op. 55 Eroica

Program 4
R. Schumann Symphony No. 3 E-flat major op. 97 Rheinische
R. Schumann Symphony No. 2 C major op. 61

Program 5
Webern Passacaglia op. 1
Mozart Symphony No. 38 D major K 504 Prague
Brahms Symphony No. 3 F major op. 90

Program 6
Schubert Symphony No. 8 D759 Finished Unfinished (reconstrution M. Venzago)
F. Mendelssohn Symphony No. 5 op. 107 Reformationssinfonie (original version)

World Premiere of Mario Venzago’s Violin Concerto

Mario Venzago – Bruckner Symphony No. 5

Mario Venzago – Carmen Movie

Mein Bruder, der Dirigent (Trailer), Alberto Venzago