Carlo Ponti
Carlo Ponti is known for taking audiences of all ages on musical journeys of unique interpretive depth.
He is currently in his tenth season as music director of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra, and has been praised for raising the orchestra’s artistic level, diversifying its audience base, and developing it into a versatile educational tool.
Ponti was appointed Associate Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra in 2000 and since then has led the ensemble in Russia and on critically acclaimed international concert tours. His debut recording with the RNO was released in 2008 on PentaTone Classics. Celebrated as “a brilliant debut” (Audio and Record), it features Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on the Bare Mountain and instrumental selections from the composer’s operas. Forthcoming projects with the RNO include an album featuring symphonic works by Rimsky-Korsakov and, in May 2010, a historic concert at the Vatican celebrating the meeting of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox faiths in the presence of Pope Benedict XVII and Patriarch Kirill the First.
As guest conductor, Ponti has appeared with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de Valencia, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Pro Arte Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Ural Philharmonic, Moscow Chamber Orchestra and Budapest Concert 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 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 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.
Ponti’s work has been profiled on NPR, NBC and ABC News, Leonard Lopate, Fox News, and the Associated Press. His performances have been featured on American Public Media’s Performance Today program broadcast on public radio stations across the United States.