Nima Keshavarzi
Born in Iran, with a European musical education and a cosmopolitan artistic vision, Nima Keshavarzi has established himself as one of the most versatile and dynamic conductors of his generation. He devotes himself passionately to both operatic and symphonic repertoire and acts as a cultural ambassador between Italian and Iranian musical institutions with innovative projects.
He studied violin and composition at the Tehran University, the Florence Conservatory and the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. He specialized in conducting under the guidance of Alessandro Pinzauti in Florence and at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels with Bart Bouckaert, Lukas Vis and Arturo Tamayo; then he took part in conducting courses at the prestigious Accademia Chigiana in Siena/Italy with Gianluigi Gelmetti and at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne/Germany with Michael Luig. He took tuitions from Zubin Mehta, Michel Tabachnik and Donato Renzetti.
Since 2015, as assistant conductor to maestro Roberto Abbado, he started his career collaborating with some of the major Italian and European Opera Houses such as Teatro dell’Opera in Rome (I masnadieri, Andrea Chénier, Benvenuto Cellini), Palau de les Arts in Valencia (A Midsummer night’s dream, Tancredi), Teatro Comunale in Bologna (Macbeth), Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (Le Siége de Corinthe) and Festival Verdi in Parma (Il Trovatore, Luisa Miller, Macbeth, Ernani).
He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Iranian National Orchestra and has conducted, among others, the Tehran Symphony Orchestra (Iran), the Camerata Strumentale in Prato (Italy), Orchestra Arché at Teatro Verdi in Pisa (Italy), the Symphonia Assai Orchestra of Brussels (Belgium), the Symphony Orchestra of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Ensemble Luigi Dallapiccola.
In 2017, he has collaborated with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana (Spain) and the mezzo-soprano Elina Garança for a record production with the Deutsche Grammophon and with Dynamic/Naxos at the Festival Verdi in Parma for a recording of Verdi’s Macbeth and Messa da Requiem. In 2018 he started his partnership with Balletto di Toscana (Tuscan Ballet Company) putting on stage new productions of Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye and Stravinski’s Pulcinella.
Co-founder and music director of La Filharmonie – Florence Philharmonic Orchestra, he has conducted the orchestra since its debut in 2016 obtaining an enthusiastic success of the public and critics. La Filharmonie under his guidance has become one of the leading new ensembles nationwide. His recent engagements with La Filharmonie include Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, a Mozart and Mendelssohn Symphony Cycle and a brand-new festival “Fil_Armonia” dedicated to the music of 20th and 21st centuries.
He is particularly keen on new music and conducted and recorded works of contemporary composers such as Anders Hillborg, Arvo Pärt, Reza Vali, Andrea Portera, Ari Benjamin Meyers, David John Roche, Ian C. Scott, Steven Heelein, Paolo Cognetti and Paolo Marzocchi. He is member of the board and music director of the Dante 700 – International Composition Competition that will be held in 2023 in Italy and broadcasted internationally on RAI (Italian Radio-Television).
Mr. Keshavarzi speaks English, Italian, French and Persian.
