Carlo Grandi

“A new and natural technical and interpretative approach to the violin repertoire"

Conductor and violinist, Carlo Grandi grew up in Trieste, Italy in a family of musicians. His first violin teacher was his father Rodolfo, who studied with Georg Kulenkampff. He later graduated at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Music in Venice under the guidance of Giuliano Carmignola.

Receiving awards from a very young age in many festivals and violin competitions, such as the Rassegna Nazionale di Vittorio Veneto and the International Competition for Young Violinists in Gorizia, he was also awarded first prize at the national competition for chamber music City of Genova as violinist of the Joyce Quartet. After attending several music masterclasses with Franco Gulli and Michael Frischenschlager at Vienna’s Musikhochschule (now the University for Music and Performing Arts) he graduated in orchestral conducting with Francesco Mander.

As a conductor Grandi appears regularly in Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Giordania and Russia, where the music critic of a major St. Petersburg newspaper wrote, “The first (symphony) of Beethoven performed by Carlo Grandi was a pillar of life to the fullest, reminiscent of Toscanini”. Not only has he collaborated with world renowned soloists such as Giuliano Carmignola, Beatrice Antonioni, Josef Protschka, Bruno Cavallo, Maurizio Baglini, and Romina Basso, Grandi has also given several masterclasses in Europe, with many of his students having won prestigious prizes at national and international competitions.

In 2014, whilst teaching violin and chamber music at the International Masterclasses in Cividale del Friuli, Grandi founded the Thomas Schippers Orchestra, subsequently taking them on concerts throughout the region. As a conductor - in addition to the Gorizia Academy Chamber Orchestra that he founded - he has led other chamber and symphonic orchestras in both symphonic and lyrical works. Particularly noteworthy was a Mozart production with the orchestra Academic del Teatro La Fenice in Venice and a concert at the Bibiena Theatre in Mantova for the Trame Sonore Festival. In December 2019 he conducted a concert with the Thomas Schippers Orchestra at the Amman Theatre in Jordan, and in January 2021 he was invited to teach a violin and conducting masterclass organised by I Creation of Hong Kong.