Giovanni Pompeo

Biography

Italian conductor Giovanni Pompeo received his early musical training in Matera before continuing his professional formation at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. During these formative years, he collaborated closely with the theatre orchestra under the direction of many of the world’s most distinguished conductors, including Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Fabio Luisi, Yuri Temirkanov, James Levine, Myung-Whun Chung, and Giuseppe Sinopoli.

Central to his artistic development were his close professional relationships with Maestro Fabio Luisi, whom he assisted, Maestro Aldo Ceccato—an eminent representative of the Sergiu Celibidache school—and composer and conductor Nicola Samale. His exceptional musical stature was recognized by Paolo Isotta, former chief music critic of Corriere della Sera, who portrayed him in his bestseller The Virtue of the Elephant, describing Pompeo as “one of the most extraordinary musicians I know.”

Giovanni Pompeo is Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestra of Matera and Basilicata and has led operatic and symphonic performances throughout Italy and internationally. Highlights include concerts at the Musikverein in Vienna, Carnegie Hall in New York, and collaborations with leading orchestras across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia. His repertoire spans from Baroque to contemporary music, embracing opera and symphonic works from Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, and Puccini to Beethoven, Mahler, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Boulez, and Rachmaninov.

He conducted the world premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas’s Musiche per Matera, created for Matera European Capital of Culture 2019, which received the prestigious Abbiati Award as Best New Work of the Year. He has also led numerous other world premieres by prominent contemporary composers.

In 2019, Pompeo conducted the opening ceremony of Matera European Capital of Culture, directing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy with nearly 2,000 musicians, as well as performances attended by the President of the Italian Republic. Alongside his international conducting career, he is deeply committed to cultural outreach and education, promoting youth orchestras inspired by the Abreu System. He currently teaches at the Matera Conservatory.