Umberto Clerici

Italian conductor Umberto Clerici is the Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2023, with his tenure extended through the end of the 2027 season. Known for his elegant musicianship, clarity of approach, and instinctive understanding of orchestral playing, his conducting has grown out of a distinguished career spanning more than two decades as a solo cellist and orchestral musician, including seven years as Principal Cello of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

At the Queensland Symphony, Clerici’s work has included an ongoing Mahler cycle alongside a particular focus on Classical and early Romantic repertoire. His performances of Mozart and Schubert have attracted critical acclaim, with InReview noting his ‘emphasis on melody, structure and balance’ and how he ‘thoroughly illuminated the architecture’ of the music. His work with the orchestra has also encompassed major works by Mahler, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Strauss and Verdi.

Clerici’s 2026/27 season reflects his growing international profile, with engagements across Europe, Asia, and Australia. Highlights include a return to the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, his debut with the Orchestra of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples alongside violinist Sergej Krylov, and his Singapore Symphony Orchestra debut with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. He also returns to Teatro Massimo in Palermo to conduct Puccini’s Tosca, continuing a relationship which has included Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and Symphony No.2.

Recent seasons have seen Clerici conduct the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with Daniil Trifonov, alongside yearly returns to the Sydney, Melbourne and West Australian symphony orchestras. In Europe, he made his conducting debut with the Filarmonica TRT at Teatro Regio in Torino, returning to the theatre where he had earlier served as Principal Cello, in a programme culminating in Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10. Further engagements have included several programs with Orchestra della Toscana, l’Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Normandie, and the Volksoper Wien, where he has conducted Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Steven Isserlis and a production of Bizet’s Carmen. His operatic work also includes Verdi’s Macbeth, Puccini’s La bohème and Mozart’s Don Giovanni for Opera Queensland.

Born in Turin, Clerici first established an international career as a cellist, making his solo debut aged seventeen with Haydn’s D major Cello Concerto in Japan. He later served as Principal Cello of the Teatro Regio di Torino before joining the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2014. In 2018, he made his conducting debut with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House, launching a conducting career that has since become the principal focus of his work.

As a solo cellist, Clerici has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Musikverein, the Salzburg Festival, St Petersburg’s Shostakovich Hall, and Rome’s Auditorium Parco della Musica. In 2011, he became only the second Italian cellist, after Mario Brunello, to win a prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition.