Born in Padua (Italy) in 1999, Gianmaria Fantato Pontini is a young Italian conductor and organist, active both on the concert stage and in the operatic field. He has already established himself through a wide range of performances in Italy and abroad, collaborating with distinguished musicians and ensembles while developing his own artistic projects.

Among his recent engagements are debuts with the Berlin Sinfonietta and the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra in Ölüdeniz, as well as appearances in Vienna, where he has been invited as a guest conductor at the Vienna Festspiele in 2024 and 2025. He has also received international recognition, including an honorable mention at the New Year Concert Competition in Vienna, Third Prize at the “Classical Musical Stars” competition, and Second Prize at the “World Best Musician” competition.

Fantato Pontini is the founder and Music Director of the orchestra of the “Il Cimento Armonico APS” Association in Padua, with which he inaugurated the 2022–23 season and continues to pursue an intense concert activity. He has conducted renowned musicians such as Piero Toso, Sara Mazzarotto, and Francesca Gerbasi. Particularly noteworthy is his direction of Fauré’s Requiem in its original version, dedicated to the victims of Covid-19, as well as the premiere of Virginio Zoccatelli’s “Christmas Suite.”

His operatic and symphonic training has been enriched by studies at the Vienna Opera Academy, where he worked with Aurelio Canonici and Toby Purser, and by further studies with Lior Shambadal. In 2023, he was selected for the Vienna Opera Academy for Conductors, participating in a production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, with which he made his Vienna debut. He also attended masterclasses with Daniel Oren at the Teatro Verdi in Salerno and studied choral conducting with Marco Berrini.

Deeply engaged in interdisciplinary projects, he made his debut in Padua in 2022 conducting and leading from the concertmaster position the “Divine Comedy Fantasy,” a production combining music from Bach to Elgar with readings from Dante’s Divine Comedy, which was met with strong public acclaim. In the same year, he conducted concerts dedicated to Antonio Vivaldi and to the patron saint of Padua in prominent local venues.

Alongside his conducting career, Fantato Pontini is active as an organist, performing both as a soloist and in chamber ensembles, and as an accompanist for singers. He is also involved in musicological and editorial work, having published an adaptation of Fauré’s “Cantique de Jean Racine,” Op. 11, for choir, strings, and organ, as well as a revision of the unpublished “Lauda alla Madonna” by Wolfango Dalla Vecchia.

He currently serves as Music and Artistic Director of “Il Cimento Armonico APS”, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Wiener Stadtorchester in Vienna. He is also Professor of Conducting for Italian Opera in Vienna.