Mario Venzago

Veteran conductor Mario Venzago has been active in his native Switzerland, across Europe, and in the U.S., where he was partly trained. From 2010 to 2021, he was the conductor of Switzerland's Bern Symphony Orchestra, and he remains active as a guest conductor. Venzago was born in Zurich on July 1, 1948. His family was of Italian and German background, and his brother Alberto Venzago was a noted photographer. Mario took up the piano at the age of four or five. He attended the Zurich University of the Arts and the University of Zurich, studying conducting with Erich Schmid. At first, his main focus was the piano, and after a period of touring, he found a permanent job with Switzerland's Italian-language Radiotelevisione Svizzera as a pianist and accompanist; he made his first recordings during this period under the radio network's auspices. He also served as music director of Switzerland's Stadttheater Winterthur from 1978 to 1986. Venzago traveled to Vienna for further conducting studies with Hans Swarowsky and then rounded out his education as a conducting fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, studying with Leonard Bernstein. While there, he made his U.S. debut, conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Venzago also worked as general music director of the city of Heidelberg, Germany, and as chief conductor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen during this period. In 1992, he conducted a recording of Othmar Schoeck's opera Venus for the Musikszene Schweiz label. From 1991 to 1994, Venzago served as music director of the Graz Opera. He moved on to the Sinfonieorchester Basel from 1997 to 2003, also serving as music director of the Basque National Orchestra from 1998 to 2001. Venzago remained active in the U.S., succeeding Pinchas Zukerman as artistic director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's summer music festival from 2000 to 2003 and serving as music director of the Indianapolis Symphony from 2002 to 2009. He was principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden from 2004 to 2007. In 2010, Venzago moved to the Bern Symphony Orchestra, remaining there until 2021 and continuing as an honorary conductor. He also served as Artist in Association with the Tapiola Symphony in Finland from 2013 to 2019. Venzago remains active in the 2020s, making frequent guest conducting appearances. He has recorded for various labels, including Novalis, BIS, and CPO; for the latter, he led the Bern Symphony in a series of Bruckner symphony recordings that incorporated historical performance techniques. By 2023, when Venzago conducted the Singapore Symphony in a program of film scores on the Chandos label, his recording catalog comprised more than 35 items. ~ James Manheim, Rovi