Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra since 1999, Brazilian-born conductor Fabio Mechetti is one of the most respected conductors in the United States. Active on the international scene as well, Maestro Mechetti garners consistent praise from critics and colleagues for his artistry and knowledge of the repertoire. Continuously taking the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra to new artistic heights, Mr. Mechetti has also introduced regular performances of grand opera to the JSO audiences totalling so far ten highly-acclaimed productions.

Starting in 2008 Maestro Mechetti was appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte with the task of practically creating a brand new fully professional orchestra in Brazil's third largest city. Within this period the orchestra has become reference in symphonic activities in Brazil, garnering praises and prizes for its outstanding progress. For these efforts he was awarded the Carlos Gomes Prize, the most prestigious award in classical music in Brazil, being selected as the best conductor in 2009.

Mr. Mechetti has held the post of Music Director of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra from 1993 to 2004. After eleven years of inspiring leadership he was named Music Director Laureate of that orchestra. He also led the Syracuse Symphony for ten seasons, beginning as Associate Conductor in 1989 and becoming Music Director in 1993.

In addition to his Carnegie Hall debut with the New Jersey Symphony in 1993, Mr. Mechetti has appeared as guest conductor with the Seattle Symphony, Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, San Jose Symphony, Austin Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, and various orchestras in Mexico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.

 He has traveled to New Zealand to lead the Auckland Philharmonia and to Scotland to conduct the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and to Finland with the Tampere Philharmonic. He has made several very successful tours of Japan that included concerts with both the Tokyo and Sapporo symphonies, and he returned to that country in 2002 to conduct the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra. Having made his European debut with the Danish Radio Orchestra in 1990, Mr. Mechetti is a frequent guest of Scandinavian orchestras.

He has conducted also the Buffalo Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony, Alabama Symphony, the New England Conservatory Symphony, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and the Chautauqua Festival Symphony Orchestra. Future engagements will take him to Italy as well as several orchestras in Brazil.

Also a highly acclaimed operatic conductor, he made his American debut with the Washington Opera in 1990 and has served as music director of the Teatro Municipal Opera House in Rio de Janeiro. Among opera productions he has conducted are: Tosca, Turandot, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Carmen, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Barber of Seville, Macbeth and La Traviata.

Winner of the 1989 Malko International Conducting Competition in Denmark, Mr. Mechetti served as resident conductor of the San Diego Symphony in 1986 and associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra from 1985 through 1989. During his years with the National Symphony, he led over 75 concerts at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, also conducting performances on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol and at Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts. His children's programs in Washington won the National Endowment for the Arts Award for Best Educational Programming in the United States in 1985.

He has worked with some of the greatest artists of several generations, from masters such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Alicia de Larrocha, Magda Tagliaferro, Nicanor Zabaleta, Frederica von Stade, Thomas Hampson, Kathleen Battle, Gil Shaham, Sarah Chang, Hilary Hahn, Arnaldo Cohen, Nelson Freire, Andre Watts, among others.

Fabio Mechetti holds Master's degrees in conducting and composition from the Juilliard School of Music.