Lorenzo Viotti

Lorenzo Viotti is the principal conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic and The Dutch National Opera.

Lightning Career

Viotti has meanwhile made a name for himself as both an opera and concert conductor. Renowned orchestras have served under his direction, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Wiener Symphoniker, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, Staatskapelle Berlin, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Filarmonica della Scala. Before coming to Amsterdam, he was principal conductor at the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon.

In 2018, Viotti made his debut with the Netherlands Philharmonic with Stravinsky's Petrushka at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and in September 2019 he made his early debut with the Dutch National Opera as Sir Mark Elder's replacement in the operatic diptych Pagliacci / Cavalleria rusticana .

In-demand opera conductor

Viotti has conducted opera titles such as Rigoletto, Werther, Tosca, Carmen and La bohème at international opera houses such as Staatsoper Stuttgart, Semperoper Dresden, Oper Frankfurt, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra national de Paris and The Metropolitan Opera. He also has several major conducting competitions to his credit, culminating in the Nestlé Young Conductors Award at the Salzburg Festival in 2015, and in 2017 he was named “best newcomer” at the International Opera Awards.

Musical Family

Lorenzo Viotti comes from a musical family. He studied piano, singing and percussion in Lyon. Then, like his father Marcello Viotti, he chose conducting. He took classes in conducting with Georg Mark in Vienna and Nicolás Pasquet in Weimar. Viotti is a frequent guest of orchestras where his father has been a conductor, including the Netherlands Philharmonic where his father was on the baton in 1996 and 1999. According to most orchestra members, Lorenzo is quite different from his father, except in one aspect: “Lorenzo also sings along during rehearsals."

Double roll

Since its founding in 1985, the Netherlands Philharmonic & Netherlands Chamber Orchestra has been the permanent orchestra of the Dutch National Opera, with principal conductor Hartmut Haenchen as the first principal conductor in this special double role. Lorenzo Viotti succeeds Marc Albrecht, who retired in season 2019-2020 after 10 years with the Netherlands Philharmonic and De Nationale Opera. About Viotti's opening production Der Zwerg , NRC Handelsblad wrote: “A strongly playing Netherlands Philharmonic, which under the direction of their new chief Lorenzo Viotti was seduced by sharp shifting, sensual eruptions and raw orchestral violence."

As chief conductor from 2021, Lorenzo Viotti has provided innovation, adventure and qualitative growth, strengthening our top position in Europe. He has committed himself to us as chief conductor until the 2024-2025 season and, to our mutual delight, has also already committed himself to returning as guest conductor at our operas and concerts in subsequent seasons.