In 1986, cellist Mario Brunello became the first Italian to take first prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He has gone on to an international career as a soloist, chamber player, orchestra founder and conductor, and musical entrepreneur.
Brunello was born in Castelfranco in Italy's northern Veneto region in 1960. He studied at the Venice Conservatory of Music, where his principal teachers were Adriano Vendramelli and Antonio Janigro, the latter a cellist with whom Brunello would come to share an interest in conducting as well. In 1986, he took first prize at the I...