Valentina Peleggi

Valentina Peleggi has been music director of the Richmond Symphony since the 2020–2021 season and has already revitalized the orchestra’s artistic output. While focusing on developing the orchestra’s own sound, she has also launched new concert formats, joined national co-commission partnerships, started a 3-year composer-in-residence program, launched conducting masterclasses in collaboration with local universities, and championed neglected composers from diverse backgrounds. Highlights of the 2022–2023 season include a ground-breaking augmented reality project, Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, and a special concert with soloist Yo-Yo Ma.

This season, Valentina debuts with the New World Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and Rochester Philharmonic; at the Grant Park Festival in Chicago; and in Europe with the Residentie Orkest, Liege Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony, and the orchestra of Opera North, also conducting the opening concert of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Engagements in recent seasons have included the Colorado and Baltimore Symphonies, Royal Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Brussels Philharmonic, Norrköping Symphony, Orchestra della Toscana, and Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano.

The first Italian woman to enter the conducting program at the Royal Academy of Music of London, she graduated with distinction and was awarded the DipRAM for an outstanding final concert as well as numerous other prizes and was recently honored with the title of Associate. She furthered her studies with David Zinman and Daniele Gatti at the Zurich Tonhalle and at the Royal Concertgebouw masterclasses. She won the 2014 Conducting Prize at the Festival International de Inverno Campos do Jordão, received a Bruno Walter Foundation Scholarship at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California, and the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship 2015–2017 under Marin Alsop.

Learn more about Valentina at valentinapeleggi.com.