Umberto Clerici

About

With a career spanning more than 20 years as a gifted cello soloist, orchestral musician, and now conductor, Umberto Clerici has gained renown as an artist of diverse and multifaceted talents.

Umberto is the Chief Conductor Designate of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and will commence as their Chief Conductor from January 2023

It was in Sydney in 2018 that Umberto made his conducting debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. Following a rapid trajectory of conducting engagements in Australia, Umberto is now in high demand with the major symphony orchestras of Australia and New Zealand.

As a guest conductor, highlights include multiple series’ with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Umberto recently made his debut with the West Australian and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras and looks forward to making his debuts with the New Zealand, Christchurch and Dunedin Symphony Orchestras.

Umberto began his career as a virtuoso cellist making his solo debut at the age of 17 performing Haydn’s D Major cello concerto in Japan. After years of performing on the stages of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, Umberto took up the position as Principal Cellist of the Royal Opera House in Turin, which he held for four years. In 2014, he was then appointed as the Principal Cello of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 2021.

As a cellist, Umberto is beloved by Australian audiences and has performed internationally as a soloist at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musicverein, the great Shostakovich Hall of St Petersburg, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, the Salzburg Festival and in 2012 he performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations under the baton of Valery Gergiev.