Lorenzo Viotti

Lorenzo Viotti has been chief conductor of Dutch National Opera and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra since September 2021. The young French-Swiss conductor is one of the rising stars in the world of opera and symphonic repertoire. He has conducted at the opera houses of Zurich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Vienna, Paris and Milan, among others. At Dutch National Opera, he previously conducted the double bill Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci, Der Zwerg, Missa in tempore belli, Tosca, Turandot, Der Rosenkavalier and Lohengrin.

He has also won several major conducting competitions, including the Nestlé Young Conductors Award at the 2015 Salzburg Festival, the 11th International Conducting Competition of the Orquestra de Cadaqués and the Conducting Competition at the MDR Symphony Orchestra. In 2017, he was named ‘best newcomer’ at the International Opera Awards. In 2019, he received the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis in the category ‘Best Musical Direction’.

Among the many distinguished orchestras Viotti has conducted so far are the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the  BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France Paris, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Göteborgs Symfoniker, the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra,  Wiener Symphoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, Filarmonica della Scala Orchestra, Staatskapelle  Berlin, and the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, which Viotti led as principal conductor for three years until the end of August 2021 and where he was able to attract new audiences also through special projects. The young conductor’s debuts in the USA with the Cleveland Orchestra and in Canada with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal have been highly acclaimed by audiences and critics alike.

In January 2020, he stepped in for Emmanuel Krivine to lead the Orchestre National de France in concerts in Vienna and Bratislava. At the end of February 2020, Lorenzo Viotti also conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time with concerts taking place in Berlin and Baden-Baden. The debut with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra planned for May this year had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Musical family
Lorenzo Viotti was born into a Franco-Italian, musical family. He studied piano, singing and percussion in Lyon. Like his father Marcello Viotti, he chose to be a conductor. He took lessons in conducting with Georg Mark in Vienna, where he simultaneously performed as a percussionist in various major orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic. He continued his conductor’s training with Nicolás Pasquet at the Franz Liszt Conservatory in Weimar. Viotti is a regular guest at orchestras where his father has been a conductor, including the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, which his father conducted in 1996 and 1999. According to most members of the orchestra, Lorenzo is quite different from his father, except in one respect: 'Lorenzo also sings along during rehearsals'.

Double role
Since its formation in 1985, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra has been the resident orchestra of Dutch National Opera, with chief conductor Hartmut Haenchen as the first principal conductor in this special double role. Lorenzo Viotti succeeds Marc Albrecht, who bid farewell to the Dutch National Opera and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2019-2020 season.

• Lorenzo Viotti will conduct at Dutch National Opera during season 2024 – 2025 Die Fledermaus and Peter Grimes, both with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.

Last update: 08-04-2024