Italian cellist Giovanni Gnocchi has established himself as one of the most interesting personalities of his generation, with an intense international career, both as soloist and chamber musician.
Since 2012, Giovanni has been Professor of Violoncello at the prestigious Mozarteum University, in Salzburg, Austria.
After his debut as soloist at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in a concert together with Yo-Yo Ma, he has performed under the baton of some of the most prestigious conductors of the international scene, such as Gustavo Dudamel, Christopher Hogwood, Carlo Rizzi, Pavle Despalj, Michele Spotti, Daniele Agiman, Enrico Bronzi, at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Essen Philharmonie, Liederhalle Stuttgart, among others.
In recent years he has been playing as a soloist with orchestras such as the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Orchestra della Toscana of Florence, and Filarmonica of Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Very recently he made his debut as soloist at the prestigious Beethovenfest of Bonn with the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova.
Winner of the 1st Prize in the “F. J. Haydn” Competition of Vienna, of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship of London, he was a laureate of the Prague Spring Cello Competition and of the Janigro Competition of Zagreb.
Passionate chamber music player, he regularly appears together with world-renowned partners such as Leonidas Kavakos, the Hagen Quartet, Elizabeth Leonskaja, Liza Ferschtman, Pekka Kuusisto, Alena Baeva, Gordan Nikolic, Alasdair Beatson, Vadym Kholodenko, Cristian Budu, Itamar Golan, Esther Hoppe, Yura Lee, Marco Rizzi, Jens-Peter Maintz, Wolfram Christ, and Pavel Gililov.
He played at the Casals Festival de Prades, Verbier Festival, Septembre Musical Montreux-Vevey, Festival Radio-France Montpellier, Haydn Festspiele in Eisenstadt, Ilumina Festival, Järna Music Festival, Delft Music Festival, KotorArt Festival, Festival Musikdorf Ernen, and is regularly invited by Steven Isserlis to the Chamber Music Festival in Prussia Cove.
He has recorded solo and chamber music projects for Deutsche Grammophon, Stradivarius, and for the Mozarteum University.
Giovanni has been Solo-Cellist of the Camerata Salzburg for 8 years, Guest Principal Cellist at several orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London with Daniele Gatti, Münchner Philharmoniker, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Harding, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, the Orchestra Mozart with Claudio Abbado, and co-principal cellist in the London Symphony with Valery Gergiev. Since 2008, he has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, playing with Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, and Andris Nelsons.
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.