Giovanni Pasini
Conductor and Artistic Director
Giovanni Pasini was appointed Principal Viola of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014, after 15 years as a principal violist in accomplished orchestras around the world. He was privileged to work with conductors including Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Georges Prêtre, Neville Marriner, Colin Davies, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Bernard Haitink and George Pehlivanian, among many others. Observing these gifted conductors inspired him to pursue conducting studies.
Giovanni was selected for the Australia-based Symphony Services International Conductor Development Program, where he was taught by Christopher Seaman. After attending masterclasses across Europe, including with Atso Almila of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, he received his master’s degree in conducting at the Katarina Gurska Foundation in Madrid under the mentorship of renowned pedagogue George Pehlivanian. During his studies, Giovanni built his repertoire while conducting orchestras including the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Sydney Sinfonia, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic and Cairo Symphony Orchestra.
In September 2014, with the Qatar Music Academy, Giovanni co-founded the Qatar Youth Orchestra (QYO), which performs concerts featuring talented young soloists and musicians playing alongside QPO professionals. Giovanni has arranged a number of Arabic compositions for western orchestra and Arabic takht for QYO.
It was also 2014 when Giovanni was invited to become conductor of the Qatar Concert Choir, which has fast become the principal choir of its kind, not only in Qatar, but in the Gulf region. Its solid reputation meant Giovanni was called to lead the Qatari team that won the bid to host the 2023 World Symposium on Choral Music (WSCM) — the largest international choral event in the world.
With QPO management’s support and vision, Giovanni has occasionally conducted his colleagues, notably in the popular Doha Baroque Ensemble and the Cinemoon Ensemble, and in some important works for large chamber ensemble, such as Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll and Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks. In December 2018, he made his conducting debut in China with Prokofiev’s Peter & the Wolf.
Alessio Mastrodonato
Deputy Conductor
Alessio is head of musicianship and piano teacher at Qatar Music Academy.
He received his Master Degree in piano performance at CODARTS in Rotterdam under the direction of internationally renowned teacher Aquiles Delle Vigne after completing his studies cum laude at the U. Giordano Conservatory in five years instead of ten.
Alessio followed piano masterclasses with world renowned teachers as Andrzej Jasinski, Andrea Lucchesini, Jerome Rose, Paul Lewis, Philippe Pickett, Fabio Bidini, Fernando Puchol, Agathe Leimoni and Boris Kraljevic.
Chopin Piano Concerto n.2 op. 21 conducted by Benedetto Montebello was his professional debut. The following years Alessio performed as soloist and in chamber music formation in several Nations around the world as France, Netherlands, Palestine, Qatar, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Portugal and India.
As popularizer, Alessio created new concert formats called “Lead Concert” and “Musical Chatts”, was creator and speaker of the radio program “Mondo in musica” broadcasted on Radio Diaconia.
He is part of QCC since February 2019 and sang with the choir for many events as soloist and as bass section leader.