Biography

 

Gabriele Renzi is an Italian conductor and composer.
He began playing the piano as a child and at the age of 7, and under the guidance of the local brotherhood, the organ in the San Bernardo di Chiaravalle parish. At the age of 9, he began his professional career by studying the piano with Professor Alessandra Valletrisco making his debut at the age of 11 as a pianist, in a recital of in the class of Maestro Alfio Biuso with Mozart's Sonata in C major K 330 at the Sala Borghesiana in Rome and later continuing his studies with Clementina Martinez wife of Maestro Daniele Paris, founder of the Refice Conservatory of Frosinone.

After the exam of complementary harmony, elaborated for the bass in two keys, also in four ancient keys, he is enticed by Maestro D'Antò, former director of the Refice Conservatory, to undertake the study of composition, glimpsing his musical potential, thus starting the study of composition with Maestro Gianluca Baldi who spured him on to composing his first piano pieces, including a first suite of seven piano pieces.
He deepened his study of the organ with Maestro James Edward Goettsche, former titular organist of Saint Peter's and the study of the piano with Maestro Vincenzo Di Bella. He then arrives at the studio of conducting with the famous Carlo Maria Giulini, yet continuing composition under the guidance of Luca Salvadori and Nicola Samale from whom he also learned instrumentation for orchestra. He studied under Maestro Pio Di Meo choral conducting and choral music, and Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony with Maestro Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci Perpetual Maestro of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

He graduated in orchestra conducting and composition at the Accademia Universitaria Superiore “Licinio Refice” of Frosinone ''Higher Artistic and Musical Education'' and for Composition in just 5 years (out of the 10 envisaged). He then became a student of Professor Alfredo Gasponi in the same academic institution for the history of music.
He has attended several international masterclasses in orchestral conducting, at the Accademia Chigiana with the Orchestras of Prato and Sofia, conducting in the final recitals the cornerstones of the symphonic repertoire and at the Pomeriggi Musicale di Milano as well as at the prestigious music school of Fiesole, where he met the famous Carlo Maria Giulini who recognized his conducting and musical talent during a rehearsal of Beethoven's Fourth Symphony. Maestro Giulini then presented him with an autographed letter, inviting him to study directly with him in Milan and, even despite his young age, as his assistant in the last symphony concerts held at the "Lingotto" auditorium in Turin, which included Verdi's Messa da Requiem (Orchestra RAI National Symphony and Choir with Maria Dragoni, Katia Lytting, Stuart Neill, Peter Mikulas).
He made his conducting debut at the historical concerts of the Cancelleria in Rome with Mozart's Serenades and Divertimenti.

He has notable experience in opera and the Italian repertoire, as reflected in his 
work from 2002 to 2009 at numerous principle Italian theaters including La Scala, and at the Rome Opera as an assistant inclusive of the symphonic, operatic and ballet repertoire, where he collaborated with prominent personalities of the art world, such as Herzog, De Ana, Domingo, Santi, Hager, Zeffirelli, Ronconi, Pizzi, Fracci, Pesko, Zakharov and acting as assistant to conductors such as, in addition to the aforementioned Giulini, Bruno Bartoletti (for Assassinio nella Cattedrale by Pizzetti in Parma, Florence and Rome), Marco Tutino (for Puss in Boots), in the opera Sly with Placido Domingo, and Alain Lombard, where he has conducted rehearsals, such as Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Il Turco in Italia, Nabucco, The Barber of Seville, L'Italiana in Algeri, Un ballo in maschera, Otello, and Aida.

For ballet, he has always worked at the Opera di Roma in performances such as Swan Lake with Lev Shabanov and Svetlana Zakharova / Laura Comi / Eugenij Ivanchenko / Mario Marozzi / Igor Yebra and in "Petruška", "The Firebird", "L'aprés midi d'un faune" and "Jeux" brought together in a single show,"Nijinskij-Fokine", with Zoltan Pesko and Irma Nioradze, Gheorghe Iancu and Alessandro Molin, with the star leads Laura Comi and Mario Marozzi.

From 2011 onwards, he has conducted numerous symphony concerts with ICOs including the Orchestra della Abruzzese Symphony Institution (concert at the Michetti Museum in benefit for the earthquake victims, Beethoven Symphony No. 7 and Haydn Symphony 104 London) achieving great success; and later with the Sofia Chamber Orchestra, the Prato Orchestra, the Italian Symphony Orchestra and the Nova Amadeus Orchestra.

In 2013, he collaborated with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia for the symphonic concerts of the season (Britten Serenade for tenor, horn and strings as collaborating master on lights) and as assistant conductor for Un Ballo in Maschera by Verdi with a cast formed by Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Liudmyla Monastyrska, Dolora Zajick with the Orchestra and National Chorus of Santa Cecilia.
Since 2015 he directed numerous operas in Romania and Bulgaria including Mozart's Da Pontia trilogy: Don Giovanni, Marriage of Figaro, and Cosi fan tutte, L'Italiana in Algeri and Rossini's La Cenerentola and numerous opera concerts for students of the national conservatory circuit in Bucharest and Plodiv.

He is the author of various works including the transcription of Kyrie Eleison for piano and continuo by mass bwv 232 by Bach, Suite for piano, Romances, Lieder, elaboration for voice and piano of “Adeste Fideles”, variations for large orchestra, fragments for violin and piano,
cello and piano, and symphonic poems.
His symphonic and operatic repertoire extends from the 1500s to the 1900s, dedicating himself to the operatic repertoire  with equal interest from Monteverdi to Mozart, passing through Rossini to Verdi up to the Giovane School, exploring Wagner and Strauss and flanking the symphonic repertoire with composers such as Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Schubert to get to Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Stravinsky up to the second school Viennese and contemporary music. He studies the Italian conducting tradition that goes from Guarnieri, Toscanini, to Giulini.

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He also deals with music criticism and is an essay writer for national publications.