Valentina Peleggi © Jonathan Thorpe
Valentina Peleggi
Described as a ‘rising star’ of classical music by BBC Music Magazine, conductor Valentina Peleggi already leads internationally renowned orchestras – the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (London), the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Brussels Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and others.
The first Italian woman to study conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London, she was elected an “Associate” of the Academy, a distinction awarded to alumni who have distinguished themselves particularly in their field.
She subsequently furthered her studies with David Zinman and Daniele Gatti at the Tonhalle in Zurich. In 2014, she won the conducting prize at the Campos do Jordão International Winter Festival (Brazil), received a scholarship from the Bruno Walter Foundation at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (California) and won the Taki Alsop Fellowship, which enabled her to benefit from the guidance and support of Marin Alsop and her foundation (2015–2017).
Finally, she completed her training through the English National Orchestra’s Mackerras Fellowship programme (2018–2019); as part of this, she conducted Carmen (Bizet), La Bohème (Puccini), Orpheus in the Underworld (Offenbach) and Dido and Aeneas (Purcell).
Valentina Peleggi has been Music Director of the Richmond Symphony (Virginia) since 2020.
Previously, she was Conductor-in-Residence with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the city’s Symphony Choir; she won the 2016 APCA Award (Conductor of the Year from the São Paulo Society of Art Critics) and was named Young Talent of 2017 by Revista Concerto magazine.
Since 2019, she has been the musical director responsible for the Italian repertoire at the Teatro São Pedro, where she has conducted L’Italiana in Algeri (Rossini) and Il matrimonio segreto (Cimarosa).
She has conducted Le Comte Ory (Rossini) at the Garsington Opera Festival, as well as the Hague Residence Orchestra, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège, the Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra, the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali, the Irish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, and Rigoletto in Trieste.
Valentina Peleggi holds a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature.