Salzburg-based Italian cellist Giovanni Gnocchi made his solo debut at the Hong Kong Arts Festival, performing alongside Yo-Yo Ma, who praised him as "a wonderfully talented cellist, who will make a valuable contribution to music wherever he goes."

Gnocchi has appeared as soloist under the baton of prestigious conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Christopher Hogwood, Carlo Rizzi, Pavle Despalj, Daniel Cohen, Michele Spotti, Daniele Agiman, Enrico Bronzi, Ernst Hoetzl, Daniele Giorgi, at venues including the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Mozart-Woche in the Großer Saal of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Essen Philharmonie, the Kurhaus Wiesbaden, the Liederhalle Stuttgart, the Rosengarten Mannheim and many more.

In these years, he has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, the Orchestra della Toscana in Florence, the Philharmonic of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. After making his debut as a soloist at the Beethovenfest in Bonn with the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova in 2018, he was immediately invited back by the orchestra for further performances as a soloist and conductor. In 2019, he performed as a soloist and conductor of the OGI-Orchestra Giovanile Italiana at the Amici della Musica di Firenze. He recently performed Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante and had a great success with the Elgar Concerto at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari. Since 2019 he has been a three-year soloist-in-residence with the Rossini Symphony Orchestra in Pesaro, performing Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1, Schumann’s Concerto op. 129, the Friedrich Gulda Concerto with Daniele Agiman and other programmes as soloist and conductor. In Cremona he was invited to the Stradivari Festival with the Haydn Concerto conducted by Alexander Lonquich, and was immediately invited for a concert at the Cremona Jazz Festival, performing Claude Bolling, Friedrich Gulda and more together with a jazz trio.

He recently played Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante in Mexico with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco and José Luis Castilllo, Beethoven's Triple in Lugano with Marco Rizzi and Adrian Oetiker and with the North Czech Philharmonic at Prague's Smetana Hall, and Haydn's Concerto in D in Salzburg with Elisabeth Fuchs and the Philharmonie Salzburg, Elgar in Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari and CPE Bach and Weinberg at Stradivari Festival in Cremona.

A passionate chamber musician, he has performed with Martha Argerich and Mischa Maisky, with Leonidas Kavakos, with members of the Hagen Quartet, in duo with Andrea Lucchesini and Alexander Lonquich, with Ilya Gringolts, Alena Baeva, Vadym Kholodenko, Olli Mustonen, Jens-Peter Maintz, Mario Brunello, at Lucerne Festival, Ark-Nova Concert Hall in Japan, Casals Festival in Prades, Festival Radio-

France in Montepellier, Verbier Festival, Delft Music Festival, Järna Music Festival in Sweden, Ilumina Festival in Brazil, KotorArt Festival in Montenegro, Festival Musikdorf Ernen in Switzerland, Ljubljana Cello Fest in Slovenia. He has given chamber concerts at the Esplanade in Singapore and a solo recital at the Hong Kong City Hall for the Hong Kong International Cello Association.

He has performed in duo and trio with Alexander Lonquich and Ilya Gringolts, made his debut at the Lucerne Festival in a trio with Olli Mustonen and Alessandro Carbonare, toured chamber music in Italy with Leonidas Kavakos and in the Netherlands with Liza Ferschtman, played in Japan at the opening of the new Ark-Nova Concert Hall, and has been invited to the Ljubljana Cello Fest in Slovenia, the Ilumina Festival in Brazil, the Järna Music Festival in Sweden, the Delft Music Festival in the Netherlands, the KotorArt Festival in Montenegro, and the Musikdorf Ernen Festival in Switzerland. He also recently gave chamber music concerts in Singapore and a solo cello recital at the Hong Kong City Hall for the Hong Kong International Cello Association.

Her solo and chamber music performances have been broadcast on RAI-Radio3, ORF-1 Austria, RTVS-Rádio Slovensko, Bayerische Rundfunk 4-Klassik and NPO-Radio4 in the Netherlands. She has recorded solo and chamber music projects for Deutsche Grammophone, Stradivarius and the Mozarteum University.

Winner of First Prize at the FJ Haydn Competition in Vienna and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Scholarship in London (both with the David Trio), he was a laureate at the Prague Spring Cello Competition, the Antonio Janigro Cello Competition in Zagreb, and in duo with Mariangela Vacatello at the Parkhouse Prize in London at Wigmore Hall.

Giovanni has been Principal Soloist of the Camerata Salzburg for 8 years, Guest Principal Cellist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London under Daniele Gatti, Guest Principal of the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Daniel Harding, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Orchestra Mozart under Claudio Abbado, and Co-Principal of the London Symphony under Valery Gergiev. Since 2008 he has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, playing with Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink and Andris Nelsons.

In 2012 he was appointed University Professor of Cello at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg.

Born in Cremona, he studied with Luca Simoncini, Mario Brunello, Rocco Filippini, Enrico Bronzi, Natalia Gutman, David Geringas, Steven Isserlis, Clemens Hagen, Heinrich Schiff, Ferenc Rados and Sir András Schiff.