Nil Venditti

Conductor

Home
Reviews
Features

Principal Guest Conductor: Orchestra della Toscana

Young Italian-Turkish conductor Nil Venditti has already established relationships with orchestras including Orchestra della Toscana, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Ankara-based Ancyra Ensemble.

In November 2019 Venditti was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Orchestra della Toscana for the 2020/21 season. She was offered the role after her very first visit in July 2019.

Throughout the past season, Venditti served as Assistant Conductor to Marc Albrecht and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, making her Amsterdam Concertgebouw debut with the NedPhO. She also assisted Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and made debuts with Les Siècles, Camerata Salzburg and Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra while continuing her conducting studies in Zurich.

For her Camerata Salzburg debut in November 2019, she conducted Fazil Say in works by the pianist/composer himself, who has become a strong supporter since they first worked together in February 2018.

With a strong affinity for the core classical repertoire of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, Venditti is also expanding her scope into the operatic field, having conducted Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte, as well as Bizet’s Carmen and Salieri’s Prima la musica poi le parole. She also assisted Daniele Rustioni in Verdi’s Ernani at Opera National de Lyon.

In the 2020/21 season Venditti tours Europe with Orchestra della Toscana, continues assisting the NedPhO in Amsterdam, and debuts with Ulster Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de Metz, Orchestre d’Auvergne and Orchestra del Teatro Verdi di Trieste.

Venditti is an advocate for finding inclusive relationships with new audiences. She has championed Nicola Campogrande’s Concerto for Audience and Orchestra, originally commissioned for the Paris Philarmonie, for which the public is given kazoos and plastic-wrapped mints with which to interact with the orchestra, being conducted as part of the performance. She first conducted the work for an open-air audience of 2,000 people in Matera, Italy, in 2016, and with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2019.

She is currently finalising a Specialised Master’s Degree in conducting at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste under the guidance of Prof. Johannes Schlaefli. She attended the Conducting Academy associated with the Pärnu Music Festival under Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi and Leonid Grin in 2017 and 2018, as well as the Gstaad Conducting Academy in 2016 and 2019.

Venditti was awarded First Prize at the national Premio Claudio Abbado for Young Musicians in 2015 at the age of 20 and won two prizes at the Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Bucharest in 2017.

Beethoven: Symphony No.7 2nd Movement/ Orchestre de Pau/ (Pau, Feb 2020) © Les films du Worso

Koussevitzky: Double Bass Concerto/ Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest/ Luis Cabrera Martin / (Amsterdam, Dec 2020 © Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest

“Nil Venditti, female conductor from Italy, seemed to be the most prominent among the students. Her music making was full of lively Italian energy and a burning desire to make music, all the while her hands were firm and clear. She was also chosen as the only conductor of the Järvi Academy to open the second half of the Academy gala concert conducted by Paavo Järvi. In the hands of the Italiana, the work Musica profana for string orchestra by Lepo Sumera, composer rarely played in Estonia, sounded very convincing.”

(Kerstin Elisabeth Kullerkupp for SIRP, Eesti Kultuurileht, August 2018)

“a special alchemy catalysed the audience, conquered by the very young baton of Nil Venditti, only 23, from Perugia, pure talent who captivated everyone with Rossini’s energy and the utter brio of his overtures from Il barbiere di Siviglia, Il turco in Italia and L’italiana in Algeri. Venditti conducted the first half from memory, in perfect synchrony with the large-screen images of an animated film by Gianini-Luzzati.”

(Il Messaggero, January 2018)