Born in Viareggio in 1980, Valerio Galli received his diploma in piano with top marks and honors under the guidance of Fabrizio Papi and Nadia Puccinelli. He obtained a Composition Diploma in 2008 under Pietro Rigacci also with top marks. He took master classes with Paul Badura-Skoda, Bruno Canino, Piero Rattalino, Franco Scala and enjoyed a brief career as a concert pianist, giving concerts in Budapest, Barcelona, New York, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Shanghai, Paris, Tokyo, London, Peking, Abu Dhabi and Tripoli.
His 2012 season includes conducting Carmen at the Teatro Coccia in Novara, after his La Traviata won him public and critical acclaim last season. In 2011, he conducted Donizetti’s Il Campanello and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi at Genoa’s Carlo Felice Theater with the great artists Rolando Panerai and Juan Pons, conducted a symphony concert for Unicef at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, a new production of Madama Butterfly for the 57° Festival Puccini and a symphonic concert for the Bellini International Opera Festival in Taormina.
In 2003, he began to study conducting with Piero Bellugi, Aldo Faldi, Donato Renzetti and Carlo Moreno Volpini. In 2005, he also worked as assistant to the conductor David Kram at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. His opera debut came in 2004 with Madama Butterfly at the Mancinelli Opera House in Orvieto, followed by the children’s operas: Britten’s The little sweep and Zangelmi’s The emperor’s new clothes. In 2007, he conducted the New Year’s Day Concert at the Teatro del Giglio in Lucca and an opera concert at the International House ofthe Music in Moscow with Città Lirica Orchestra. He conducted an opera and symphonic concert at the XXII° Kecskeméti Tavaszi Festival in Hungary with the Kecskemét Symphony Orchestra followed by Tosca for the 53° Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, directed by Mario Corradi. This production, published in DVD on the Dynamic label, won him the ‘Gold Mask 2007’ Prize for young emerging conductors.
In 2008, he conducted Tosca for the opening of the Daegu International Opera Festival in South Korea with Francesca Patanè as protagonist and inaugurated the 57th Santander Festival with the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra and soloists Eva Mei and Giacomo Prestia. The Puccini Foundation chose him to conduct the ‘Puccini Marathon’ in Tokyo and many concerts marking the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Giacomo Puccini working with artists of the calibre of Giorgio Surian, Massimiliano Pisapia and Donata D’Annunzio Lombardi.
In 2009, he conducted Giancarlo Cobelli’s production of Rigoletto at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, alternating with M° Bruno Bartoletti. This was followed by Maurizio Scaparro’s staging of Turandot designed by Ezio Frigerio for the 55° Puccini Festival, LaTraviata at the Teatro Sociale in Mantua and a new production of Tosca at the Teatro Sociale in Trento, Teatro Sociale in Rovigo and Teatro Verdi in Pisa which won him great personal success.
Maestro Galli’s engagement in the recent past include the Central American première of Tosca in Nicaragua’s Rubén Darío National Theatre and Cavalleria Rusticana in Managua and León, a concert at the Teatro Goldoni in Livorno entirely devoted to the verismo repertoire and an operatic concert at the Teatro Pavarotti in Modena. Other titles under taken include, LaForza del Destino, Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, L’Elisir d’amore and La Bohème with important artists like Dimitra Theodossiou, Piero Giuliacci, Carlo Guelfi and Elisabetta Fiorillo.
He is very active in the professional preparation of young opera singers and conducted the Winner’s Gala of the 1st International Luigi Illica Opera Stage in Castell’Arquato and a concert at the Teatro Goldoni in Livorno entirely devoted to the verismo repertoire, as well as teaching at the Puccini Festival’s Academy of Superior Vocal Studies in Torre del Lago.