Maurizio Venturini, son of a concert pianist and a ship engineer, is a descendant of an Italian aristocratic family. He received his master’s of music in bassoon performance from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1998. In 1979 he received his doctorate, majoring in bassoon performance, from the Conservatorio di Musica di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy. He also received a degree in music cultural knowledge from the Latium Literary Center and a degree in geology from the High Institute of Science, both in Rome, Italy. He has studied with many noted bassoonists, including W. Winstead, K. Thunemann, M. Constantini, and M. Turkovic at the Mozarteum Conservatory of Music in Salzburg, Austria.

Venturini was the principal bassoon of the Rome Opera Orchestra from 1982 to 1990 and the principal bassoon of the Naples Philharmonic from 1990 to 1995. He is the assistant principal bassoon of The Florida Orchestra, a position that he has held since 1999. In addition, Venturini has played with the Rome Chamber Orchestra, Roman Philharmonic Orchestra, International Chamber Ensemble, and Bulgarian Chamber Orchestra as principal bassoon. He also played with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 1998 and the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia Orchestra in Rome Italy from 1980 to 1982

While with the Rome Opera Orchestra, Venturini was the principal bassoon for the movie soundtracks The Godfather 3, Conan the Barbarian, Marco Polo and Lonely Lady. He was also the principal bassoon in a recording for The Three Tenors (Carreras, Domingo, and Pavarotti) with Z. Mehta conducting and in two recordings with A. Kraus. He is also the principal bassoon in a recording of Aida with the Rome Opera Orchestra conducted by Z. Mehta. On three separate occasions, he was recorded as a bassoon soloist for RAI (Italian National Radio). While studying for his master’s degree in Ohio, he recorded as principal bassoon with the Cincinnati 18th Century Ensemble and the Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra. While the principal bassoon of the Naples Philharmonic, they recorded The Nutcracker and Tubby the Tuba,which was nominated for a Grammy in 1993. He has also recorded for RCA, London, Summit, EMI, Columbia, RAI, MAMA, Uniword and Erato labels. He has been a featured soloist on radio broadcasts in Ohio, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida, and Italy. In addition, while principal bassoon of the Rome Opera Orchestra, a concert with the Three Tenors conducted by Z. Mehta and a performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni conducted by P. Maag were broadcast worldwide on live television.

After winning the Lanciano International Competition, he was a featured soloist of Mozart, Weber, Danzi, Elgar, Vanhal, Hummel, Kozeluch, Stamitz, Bach, Jolivet, Devienne, and Vivaldi bassoon concertos on 19 different occasions in concerts throughout Italy and Europe. In the United States, he has been the featured soloist in performances of bassoon concerti by Mozart, Danzi, Hummel, Weber, Vanhal, Kozeluch, Devienne, Vogel, Stamiz, Daugherty, Jolivet, Walker, Bruns, Parodi, Villa-Lobos, Bach, Muthel, Bozza, Pleyel, Berwald, Crusell and Vivaldi. He has also performed in Dresden, Berlin, Salzburg, Wiesbaden, Budapest, Amsterdam, Milano, Roma, Torino, Venezia, Firenze, Napoli, Palermo, Brescia, Helsinki, Joensuu, Cincinnati, New York, Austin, Indianapolis, Dayton, Miami, Fort Lauterdale, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Kansas City, Chicago, Dallas, Buffalo, Los Angeles, and Montreal.

In addition to his experience with The Florida Orchestra, Venturini has also played with such esteemed conductors as F. Ferrara, P. Maag, Z. Metha, G. Pretre, M. Rostropovich, and G. Sinopoli.

Venturini is currently performing bassoon concerti and other solo works by contemporary American composers as Adler, Daugherty, Larsen, Sleeper, Isele and Walker. In addition he is also an adjunct bassoon faculty member at the University of Tampa, Saint Petersburg College, Hillsborough Community College, and Patel Conservatory. He was the bassoon instructor at the Edison College and the secondary bassoon instructor at the Conservatory S. Cecilia in Rome, Italy. He has also been principal bassoon with the St. Petersburg Opera since 2006.

In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wonderful wife Jeanne, artistic photography, building from scratch, and wooden models of 17th-century ships, English and French men of war and 18th-century ships, English and French ships of the line. He also enjoys his many rescued racing greyhounds and driving his 1994 Land Rover Defender 90.