Founded in 1993, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano is today recognized as one of the most prestigious Italian orchestras. On the podium, following founder Vladimir Delman (1993–1994), three highly renowned Music Directors have succeeded one another: Riccardo Chailly (1999–2005), Zhang Xian (2009–2016), and Claus Peter Flor (2017–2022). The new Music Director starting from the 2024/25 Season is Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, winner of the 2025 Premio Abbiati as “Best Conductor”.

The history of the Orchestra has been marked by collaborations with some of the world’s most acclaimed conductors, including C.M. Giulini, P. Maag, G. Prêtre, R. Muti, V. Gergiev, D. Gatti, H. Blomstedt, and Sir N. Marriner. Other significant presences on the podium include R. Barshai and K. Penderecki, as well as V. Jurowski, G. Noseda and R. Treviño at the beginning of their careers. Among the great soloists the Orchestra has partnered with are M. Rostropovič, M. Argerich, S. Accardo, S. Isserlis, J. Bell, R. Buchbinder, A. De Larrocha, I. Faust, N. Freire, V. Mullova, and V. Repin.

The Orchestra is the protagonist of an extensive concert activity, performing in Milan, throughout Lombardy, and at major festivals and music centers. It has carried out successful tours all over the world—from Europe to Japan, from Russia to South America—and is regularly invited to the most prestigious international concert halls. Among its most recent engagements are concerts in Spain, Portugal, and at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw in 2022 with Verdi’s Requiem, in Germany at the Rheingau Festival and Kissinger Sommer in 2023 and 2024 and, in 2026, at the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg and the Musikverein in Graz, conducted by Emmanuel Tjeknavorian. The Orchestra has always aimed to broaden the boundaries of musical offerings through support for contemporary creation, experimental hybridization between artistic languages, and tireless efforts to engage new audiences and vulnerable communities.

It has developed an intensive recording activity, releasing over 30 CDs with prestigious labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Sony, EMI, and RCA. Many of these recordings have received important international awards, including the Gramophone Award, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Classic FM People’s Choice Award, and Choc de l’Année from Classica. Most recently, it has released Menotti: Orchestral Discoveries, conducted by Francesco Ciluffo as part of the recording series dedicated to 20th-century Italian music. Since 1998, the Orchestra has approached the great symphonic-choral repertoire together with the Coro Sinfonico di Milano, founded by Romano Gandolfi and conducted since the 2022/23 Season by Massimo Fiocchi Malaspina.

In 2023, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Orchestra and the 25th anniversary of the Choir, it conceived and promoted the “Mahler Festival” in Milan, presenting the complete symphonies and orchestral song cycles by the great Bohemian composer, performed by the most important Italian orchestras. For its originality and artistic and cultural value, the project received the 2024 Premio Abbiati. Since 1999, its home has been the Auditorium di Milano Fondazione Cariplo, a concert hall renowned for its extraordinary acoustic quality.

Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Lombardy Region, the Municipality of Milan, and Fondazione Cariplo.

Mattia Rondelli is a conductor who has already established himself on the international scene. In recent months, in addition to being involved in several opera productions (Nabucco, La Bohème, Il Trovatore), he has received significant acclaim thanks to the video released by the Stingray platform of his debut with the Orchestra of the Opera Carlo Felice in Genoa.

His research into and rediscovery of the scores of Giuseppe Sarti (Faenza, 1729 – Berlin, 1803), beginning with I Litiganti, which Mozart references in Don Giovanni, led to his debut at the Mariinsky Concert Hall in 2011, with soloists including Ekaterina Semenchuk and Barbara Frittoli. The resulting live audio recording was first released by Sony Music and is now published by Da Vinci Publishing. This work has also led to important academic collaborations with the Universität der Künste in Berlin and the Jerusalem Academy of Music. His recording debut as a Sony Artist dates back to 2008, with Boccherini’s Stabat Mater (B. Frittoli / Virtuosi della Scala), now distributed by Da Vinci Publishing.

Over the years, his meetings and ongoing collaborations with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre, as well as with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, have been of fundamental importance. A former student of P. Bellugi, J. Panula, and D. Renzetti, he has been a guest of major institutions and orchestras including the Teatro Regio di Torino, MITO Festival, Bologna Festival, Stresa Festival, Ravenna Festival, the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, Orchestra della Fenice, l’Orchestra Sinfonica Toscanini, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Symphony in C at Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru, I Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, and Orchestra Filarmonica delle Marche.