Acclaimed for her high artistic standards, her charisma and her expressive performances, Ligia Amadio is considered by the critics as one of the finest conductors of her generation. With a passionate and intense personality, she has been praised by huge artists of our time for her energetic, natural stage-presence and her versatile technical dexterity.
She was the first woman to receive an award in the renowned Tokyo International Conducting Competition in 1997. In the following year, she won the 2nd Latin American Competition of Orchestra Conductors in Santiago, Chile. In the Netherlands, she was selected among the four best of 180 candidates from around the world to attend the 35th Kirill Kondrashin Masterclass, when she was honored to conduct the famous Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In Brazil, Amadio was awarded by the São Paulo Association of Art Critics as the “Best Conductor of the Year” 2001. In 2012 she was distinguished again as “Best Conductor” by the Carlos Gomes Award, in Brazil.
Ligia Amadio leads the International Symposium Women Conductors, created in 2016. For this realization she was one of the finalists for the 2019 Classical:NEXT Innovation Award, in Rotterdam.
In Brazil, Ligia Amadio was chief conductor and artistic director of the National Symphony Orchestra (1996 to 2008), of the Campinas Symphony Orchestra (2009), of the Symphonic Orchestra of the University of São Paulo (2009 to 2012); in Argentina, of the Cuyo National University’s Symphony Orchestra (2000 to 2003) and of the Mendoza Philharmonic Orchestra (2010 to 2014); in Colombia, of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra (2014). From 2017, she became the artistic director and chief conductor of the Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra. In all orchestras where she worked as chief conductor, she was elected by the musicians.
Her international career began in 1992. Since then Ligia Amadio has conducted important orchestras in Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cuba, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, México, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Check Republic, Thailand, United States of America and Venezuela. Highlights of her international conducting appearances include Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, Simfoniki RTV Slovenija, State of São Paulo Symphonic Orchestra, Baden-Badener Philharmonie, Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, Chile National Symphony Orchestra, Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, Perú National Symphony Orchestra, Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, Orkiestrę Symfoniczną Filharmonii Szczecińskiej, Orkiestra Symfoniczna Filharmonii Czestochowskiej, Ensemble Contrechamps, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, The Congress Symphony Orchestra, Silesian Opera Orchestra, Arpeggione Städtisches Kammerorchester, Israel Chamber Orchestra, State of México Symphony Orchestra, Sodre Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Moldova, in addition to the most important Brazilian and Argentinian orchestras.
She began studying piano at the age of five and received her Diploma at the Dramatic and Musical Conservatory of São Paulo. She completed a degree in Production Engineering, a degree in Bachelor of Conducting, a Master Degree in Arts at the State University of Campinas and a Doctorate in Music at the State University of São Paulo.
Her main conducting teachers in Brazil were Eleazar de Carvalho, Henrique Gregori and Hans-Joachim Koellreutter. She also studied with Ferdinand Leitner, in Siena, Kurt Masur, in São Paulo, Julius Kalmar in Vienna, Dominique Rouits in Hungary, Georg Tintner in Czech Republic, Alexander Polishuk and Eugeni Yergemsky in Saint Petersburg, Guillermo Scarabino, in Venezuela and Sir Edward Downes, in Netherlands.
Her discography includes 11 CDs and 5 DVDs recorded in Slovenia, Argentina and Brazil. Ligia Amadio produced and presented the broadcast “Music and Literature” between 2000 and 2003, and “Stravinsky: life and opera”, in 2008, at Ministry of Culture’s Radio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ligia Amadio created the International Symposium Women Conductors in 2016, a permanent space of reflection on the role of woman conductors in professional setting of Classical Music, seeking for mechanisms for the women conductors to have the same opportunities as their peers. For this project, she was nominated to the final of the 2019 Classical: NEXT Innovation Award, in Rotterdam. In the same year, she was distinguished with the Order of Rio Branco, in the degree of official, the highest decoration given by the Brazilian Diplomacy, for its services rendered in the name of Brazil abroad.
