Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli - Director

Started his musical study at an exceptionally youthful age under the excellent teaching guide of his aunt, then following his studies at Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan under the guidance of  the maestri Conter, Bettinelli and Gusella,  he  later refined his music talents  under the maestro Franco Ferrara. Michelangli has conducted orchestras of the most important chamber symphonic  institutions both in Italy and Europe among which  the Orchestra Haydn of Bolzano and Trento,  the Orchestra della Toscana, the Orchestra da Camera di Padova e del Veneto, I Pomeriggi Musicali and Angelicum of Milano, the Symphony Orchestras of RAI in Turin,  Rome, Milan and Naples, the  Orchestras of Teatro Regio di Torino, La Fenice di Venezia, Carlo Felice di Genova, S. Carlo di Napoli, the Orchestra of the Accademia di S.Cecilia, the Oslo Philarmonic, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Göteborg Symphoniker, the MDR Kammerphilharmonie  of Leipzig , the SWR Orchestra of  Stuttgart, the Orchestre Phylharmonique de Montecarlo,the Orchestre d’Auvergne, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Orquesta Sinfonica Ciudad de Oviedo, the Israel Youth Philarmonic Orchestra , the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra

In recent years, while still appearing in many international settings, he has privileged his interests in the French and classical repertoire, of which he is an ardent performer, selecting to conduct those recitals and to engage in collaborations with orchestras that best enable him to express these artistic inclinations.

Of particular importance in these terms is his long-standing commitment with the Mantua Chamber Orchestra, of which he had been the principal conductor from 1984 up to 2007 and whose artistic merits were honoured with the award “Franco Abbiati” in 1997 given by the Italian Musical Criticism,  ogether with further international recognition awarded during numerous concert tours all over the world.

Besides, it is important to highlight his collaboration with the Camerata Academica in Salzburg for a series of concerts held on the occasion of the Schubertiade  Feldkirch in1996.The three-year Cycle with Kammerorchester Basel, as the chief guest conductor, formed a significant  re-enforcement of his personal and music preferences.  Furthermore, in April 2004, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, in collaboration with the  Mantua Chamber Orchestra, realised a Beethoven cycle, including  symphonies , concerts and some of his symphonic-choral works. The innovative interpretation that is an expression of the recent and  thorough historical-critical and the renewal of  the expressiveness that has resulted, were rewarded with warmth and compelling praise from audiences and critical acclaim.

Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, in collaboration with Mantua Chamber Orchestra, have been the leading protagonists in the three-year cycle 2005-2007 of “Mozart Fest” dedicated to complete repertoire of Mozart’s sacred music.

The debut at Rossini Opera Festival took place in 2006 with the works :” Die Schuldigkheit des ersten Gebots “ by Mozart and  “ La cambiale di matrimonio “ by Rossini represented an important opening towards the theatre in music.

Recently the BMG Ricordi publishing house has issued his orchestration of  Claude Debussy’s“Proses Lyriques” .