Mario Brunello

In 1986 cellist Mario Brunello claimed first prize at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition, becoming the first Italian to do so in the cello division; he shared the award with Kirill Rodin. Since then he has built an international profile as a recitalist, ensemble musician, founder and conductor of his own orchestra, and enterprising figure in musical life.

Born in 1960 in Castelfranco within Italy’s northern Veneto, Brunello trained at the Venice Conservatory under Adriano Vendramelli and Antonio Janigro, the latter a cellist whose own turn toward conducting Brunello would later echo. Four years after his conservatory studies he captured the Tchaikovsky laurels. In 1994 he established the Orchestra d’Archi Italiana, remaining its principal conductor and frequent soloist. His first commercial recording appeared in 1995 on the Ermitage label, joining the Villa-Lobos Orchestra for the Bachiana Brasileiras. Six years later he took part in an Aura release of Brahms’s Sextets alongside fellow Italian musicians.

Chamber-music partnerships have remained central; among his regular associates are pianists Martha Argerich and Maurizio Pollini, violinist Gidon Kremer, and the Borodin and Alban Berg Quartets. On the orchestral stage he has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, and Tokyo’s NHK Symphony Orchestra. Brunello also performs jazz and plays the uncommon Baroque violoncello piccolo. He serves as artistic director of the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Reggio Emilia. In his native Castelfranco he programs concerts, lectures, and other events at the former ironworks known as Capannone Antiruggine. His discography includes releases on Egea and Alpha; for Arcana he recorded Mieczysław Weinberg’s Four Sonatas for Solo Cello in 2024.