* 1941, S.Lorenzo di Sedegliano (IT)
Born in S.Lorenzo di Sedegliano/Udine(Italy) in 1941, he studied piano and composition with Enrico De Angelis Valentini and singing, organ and polyphonic vocal composition as well. Having begun at the age of 20 a brilliant career as a pianist, both as soloist and in chamber ensembles, he then turned to conducting after master courses with Franco Ferrara and Zoltan Pesko. Extended contacts with such great personalities of contemporary music as Hermann Scherchen, Luigi Dallapiccola, Bruno Maderna were particularly significant to him. At 25 he made his opera debut conducting The Barber of Seville by Rossini with the ensembles of the Teatro Comunale di Genova. He has directed, both in concert and on records, various important orchestras, among which are the RAI Orchestras of Rome and Turin, Orchestre des Pays de Loire, I Solisti Veneti and the orchestra of the Accademia di S.Cecilia. Co-founder of the festival of contemporary music known as Incontri Musicali Romani, Plenizio has had frequent experiences with modern music, directing the first world-wide or Italian performances of works of Maderna, Krenek, Kelemen, Shostakovich. De Grandis and others. He was principal conductor of the Camerata Strumentale Italiana. He has composed pieces for voice, piano, quartet and orchestra. He has also worked in films both as composer and as conductor, collaborating with many prestigious directors such as Wilder, Germi, Scola, Fellini. In 1985, in Venice, in occasion of the International Year of Music, he was honored by the Italian Association of Authors and Publishers with the prize S.I.A.E. He is, moreover, an expert in the tradition of lieder and musical
