Carlo Ponti

Maestro Carlo Ponti is known for taking audiences of all ages on musical journeys of unique interpretive depth. Ponti has served as Associate Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra and as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony. In 2013, he founded the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra, an ensemble emphasizing music’s educational value. Ponti’s numerous accolades include a 2006 Premio Galileo award for international contributions to the cultural and intellectual history of Italy, a 2008 Artistic Achievement Award from the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, and the 2009 Spirit of Hope Award from the Childhelp Foundation for contributions to the development and advancement of young musical talents.

Ponti’s work and performances have been featured on ABC, CBS, NBC/Universal, NPR, PBS, ORF, Spectrum, and KTLA, among many others. His debut recording with the Russian National Orchestra of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition on Pentatone Classics quickly garnered critical acclaim, and All Music hailed his second album with the RNO, featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, as “superb.”

Ponti has led the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de Valencia, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and Cape Town Philharmonic, and appeared at the Festival d’Echternach, Festival Vancouver, Taichung Music Festival, and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, to name a few. Ponti studied at the Conductor’s Institute under Harold Farberman; with Andrey Boreyko, Mehli Mehta and Zubin Mehta in Los Angeles; and at the Vienna Music Academy under Leopold Hager and Erwin Acel.