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Carlo Ponti
Carlo Ponti began his musical studies in Paris as a pianist and subsequently attended the Conductor's Institute in Hartford, Connecticut. He holds a master's degree in conducting from the University of California, Los Angeles and has also studied with Maestros Zubin Mehta, Mehli Mehta, Andrey Boreyko and Harold Farberman, and under Leopold Hager and Erwin Accel at the Vienna Musikhochschule.
Ponti's critically praised debut with the Russian National Orchestra in Moscow led to his appointment in 2000 as the Orchestra's Associate Conductor. 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.
As a guest conductor, Ponti has appeared with, among others, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Orquesta de Valencia, Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Pro Arte Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Ural Philharmonic, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Concert Orchestra, and Napa Valley Symphony.
He has conducted at numerous international music festivals, including the 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, Lake Tahoe Music Festival, and the Köln Musik Triennale.
Committed to encouraging and educating young talent, Ponti holds regular master classes in orchestral conducting and has led the American Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Ponti was awarded Italy's prestigious 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 for his contributions to the development and advancement of young musical talent throughout the world.
Ponti's much-anticipated debut album with the Russian National Orchestra was released in December 2008 on PentaTone Classics. The recording, which features Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on the Bare Mountain, in addition to symphonic selections from Mussorgsky's operas, was celebrated as “a brilliant debut” (Audio and Record).
In addition to Ponti's worldwide critical acclaim, his work has been profiled on NPR, NBC & ABC News, Leonard Lopate, Fox News, and the Associated Press.