Mario Venzago was, until summer 2021 and for 11 years, the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Bern Symphony Orchestra. Before, he has led as Principal Conductor or General Music Director the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Basque National Orchestra in San Sebastian, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Graz Opera und Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Frankfurt (now Bremen), the Theatre and Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Heidelberg and the Musikkollegium Winterthur. From 2010 to 2014 he was Principal Conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, from 2010 to 2019 Artist in Association of the finnish Tapiola Sinfonietta and from 2000 to 2003 Artistic Director of the Baltimore Summer Fest, as successor to Pinchas Zukermann and David Zinman. 

Mario Venzago has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the orchestras in Philadelphia and Boston, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Filarmonica della Scala and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest conductor with internationally renowned orchestras such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Frankfurter Museumsorchester. He has given concerts with the world’s most famous soloists, and collaborated with directors such as Ruth Berghaus, Peter Konwitschny and Hans Neuenfels.

Several of his CDs have won international prizes such as the Grand Prix du Disque, the Diapason d’or and the Edison Award. His recordings of the operas “Venus” and “Penthesilea” and of all choral works by Othmar Schoeck with the MDR choir and symphony orchestra received great international recognition and prestigious awards, as did his first film, “My Brother the Conductor” by Alberto Venzago, which was shown in cinemas across Europe and brought out on DVD. The project “The other Bruckner” with the recording of all ten symphonies, whose individual releases were acclaimed by international critics, was released at CPO.A collaboration with Sony Classical led to the spectacular recording of Franz Schubert’s „Unfinished“ symphony with the Kammerorchester Basel, completed and conducted by Mario Venzago, and the recording of all serenades and symphonies by Johannes Brahms. The most recent CD projects have been recordings of Othmar Schoeck’s opera „Schloss Dürande“ in a new version with the Berner Symphonieorchester and the cantata „Vom Fischer und syner Fru“ with the Musikkollegium Winterthur (both Claves). Most recently, in 2022, Prospero released his recording of Schubert’s reconstructed 7th Symphony with Bern Symphony Orchestra. His recording of the Suite from Bernard Herrmann’s “Wuthering Heights” with Singapore Symphony Orchestra is scheduled for release on Chandos Records in June 2023.

In addition to his activity as a conductor, Mario Venzago recently has increasingly devoted himself to his passion for composing. In 2021 he premiered his Violin Concerto with Soyoung Yoon and the Bern Symphony Orchestra. Currently, various works by Mario Venzago are in preparation for publication by Universal Edition, including two operas.