He was born in Rimini and studied music at the Arrigo Boito Academy of Music in Parma,
where he graduated in Composition in 1989 with M° Togni and in Orchestral Conducting in
1990 with M° Gatti, going on to obtain in 1991 a first class honours degree in Musicology at
the University of Arts, Parma.
He specialised in Orchestral Conducting at the Academia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
In 1995 he reached the final in the International Competition “L. V. Matacic” in Zagreb, where
he was awarded the prize for Best Conductor in the Operatic Repertoire.
In the season 1996- 97 he was on the position of Permanent Conductor at the Serbian
National Theatre in Novi Sad.
In the period 1997-99 he was Associate Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra “G. Verdi” of
Milan, where he worked alongside many renowned conductors such as Muti, Francis,
Chailly, Ceccato, Gatti.
From 2000 to 2007 he was Artistic Director of the Notti Malatestiane Festival in Rimini.
Recently he made debut at Bayerische Staatsoper (Madama Butterfly), Paris Opera e
Lincoln Center di New York (Orfeo e Euridice), Semperoper in Dresden (Macbeth) and at
Staatsoper Hamburg (Madama Butterfly). Successful was his début with Orchestra National
de France at Theatre des Champs Eliseé (Sibelius) in Paris.
He conducted new productions: at Teatro La Fenice of Venice (Lucia di Lammermoor, Il
Principe Porcaro by Rota), with Fondazione Arturo Toscanini in Parma and Busseto
(Traviata), at Festival of La Valle d’Itria (Gounod ‘La Reine de Saba’ and ‘le Polyeucte’,
Giordano ‘Siberia’ and ‘Marcella’, Mascagni ‘Amica’), at Macerata Opera Festival (Don
Carlo), at National Theatre of Estonia in Tallinn (Traviata, Madama Butterfly and Puritani), at
Théatre Royal de Wallonie in Liège (Tosca), at National Theatre of Georgia in Tbilisi (Ballo in
Maschera), at Theater Erfurt (Don Carlo, La Gioconda, 9° of Beethoven), at Opera North in
Leeds (Capuleti e Montecchi), at Volksoper Wien (Rigoletto, Tosca), at Opera Ireland
(Capuleti e Montecchi).
He has conducted orchestras in symphonic repertoire throughout Italy and abroad, including
the following : Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Orchestra Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, Teatro
Regio di Torino, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Santa Cecilia di Roma, Orchestra Haydn di
Bolzano, Toscanini di Parma, Sinfonica Siciliana, Sinfonica di Sanremo, Filarmonica
Marchigiana, Sinfonica Abruzzese, B. Cantelli di Milano, Orchestra Stabile di Como,
Filarmonica Veneta ecc.
He was on tours with Symphony Orchestra of Milan (France and Switzerland) and with
Haydn Symphony Orchestra of Trento and Bolzano (Austria and Musikverein of Wien).
He made his debut in Teatro ‘La Scala’ of Milan in a concert with the singers of Accademia
della Scala.
Since December 1999 he combines his conducting career with holding a professorship in
Orchestral Conducting at the Rossini Academy of Music in Pesaro.
Next engagements are at Paris Opera (Palais Garnier) with Orfeo and Eurydice and a
Concert, Holland Park Festival in London (Adriana Lecouvrer), Staatsoper Stutgart
(Cenerentola).
He is a composer of chamber music and theatre music and contributes regular reviews and
music essays for Ricordi Milano and for the Istituto di Studi Verdiani di Parma.
October 2013
www.manliobenzi.it
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