On Feb. 17, the Teatro Municipale di Piacenza and Conservatorio Nicolini di Piacenza conferred Donato Renzetti with the Laurea Honoris Causa in Composition.

Before becoming a recognized conductor, Maestro Renzetti studied composition at the Conservatorio di Milano with Bruno Bettinelli.

In a statement, Renzetti said, “I came to the Nicolini Conservatory in 1980 as a teacher of orchestral exercises. From that class of very young people, today I find women and men, professors, with the same light and the same passion in their eyes. This evening, to the memories and the honor, I will add the privilege of performing my lectio magistralis with the “Antonino Votto” Orchestra. I have always considered young orchestras an ethical and moral investment, after all, I myself have supported them and continue to support them, just think of the current experience of the Saluzzo Academy named after me. We must do this, to allow the world’s musical heritage to be passed on to subsequent generations. We must do it as credible witnesses, which is why in almost 40 years of teaching I always remind my students of the first rule for becoming conductors: study and know composition. The Honorary Degree in Composition is today for me the seal of a life spent on the podium and completes an experience that still sees me pursuing the high values ​​of education and training in the expressive content of music.”

Renzetti is Music Director Emeritus of the Opera Carlo Felice since 2022. He has conducted many of the leading orchestras including the English Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, DSO Berlin, and Tokyo Philharmonic. In opera he has conducted at the Teatro alla Scala, Dallas Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéra de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper and Covent Garden.

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