Brazilian born conductor John Neschling comes from a Viennese musician’s family. Grand nephew of composer Arnold Schoenberg and conductor Arthur Bodanzky, he studied in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky and attended classes with Leonard Bernstein and Bruno Maderna in Europe and in the USA. He started very young his conducting career which took him to collaborate with many orchestras such as Vienna Symphony, London Symphony, Tonhalle Zürich, Warsaw Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Santa Cecilia in Rome, Residenz in the Hague.
As Opera conductor he has led productions in opera houses all over the world, such as the Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Arena di Verona, Opernhaus Zürich, Washington Opera. He acted as Musical Director at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, the Opera in St. Gallen in Switzerland, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the Orchestre National de Bordeaux in France and in his home country he directed both Opera Houses of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
In 1997 he decided to involve himself in the musical development of his country and took over the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, in Brazil, where he worked as musical director until 2009. During these years he transformed a local orchestra into the leading Symphony Orchestra of Latin America, toured the USA and Europe three times, recorded over 30 CDs, was awarded raving reviews and important prizes and his recordings were given both the Diapason d’Or and the Diapason d’Or de l’Année for his complete recording of Villa-Lobos “Choros” for BIS .
 In 2011 he decides to return to Europe where he conducts concerts and opera productions around Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium and Poland. At the end of 2012 he was invited by the new government of the city of Sao Paulo to take over the Artistic and Musical Direction of Theatro Municipal, so in January 2013 he goes back to Brazil and resumes his active work for his Country’s musical and cultural life, while continuing his international conducting activities.
From 2017 on, John Neschling has been guest conducting with many important groups as the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the St. Petersburg Philarmonic, the Philharmonic of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, with whom he made a Swiss tour, Orchestra Verdi in Milan and he has been invited to open the opera season 2019 at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari with the Italian première of the opera Lo Schiavo of Carlos Gomes, of whom he has also recorded (Sony Classical) the Opera Il Guarany with Placido Domingo in the title role.