Valentina Paolucci was so determined to pursue her dream of being a conductor—even while she was getting a degree in violin performance at the Frost School of Music—that every month she would persuade 40-plus instrumental students to gather so she could practice conducting. She lured them with homemade empanadas and an infectious passion for making music together.
“We would all hang out after rehearsals, and it created a tight-knit community,” Paolucci said from her home in New York City. “There was something for them and something for me. I am so grateful to them.”
At the Frost School, Paolucci, who graduated in 2023, found multiple means and mentors to support her ambition. Foremost among them was her violin professor Charles Castleman. “He encouraged me to find my voice on violin and on conducting,” Paolucci said. “When I told him I wanted to conduct, he changed the way he taught me and focused more on musical ideas and composers and how to perform their music.”
A renowned violinist, Castleman praised Paolucci not only as one of his most talented students but also as a resourceful and driven young artist who charted her own path.
“Valentina made the uncommon and courageous decision to pivot toward orchestral conducting midway through her degree, while continuing to complete her violin performance program,” Castleman said. “She consistently demonstrated a rare combination of discipline, curiosity, and artistic vision and made exceptional use of the resources and mentorship available at the Frost School to develop as a well-rounded musician capable of sustaining two professional trajectories.”
Paolucci became one of only two students accepted to The Juilliard School’s master’s program in conducting, where she received a full scholarship and the Igor Stravinsky / Robert Craft Conducting Award. Her career has advanced rapidly since she graduated in 2025. She has conducted orchestras in the United States, Europe, China, and Latin America, including the Richmond Symphony, the Chicago Sinfonietta, and Germany’s Brandenburger Symphoniker. She has been a fellow at the Cabrillo Contemporary Music Festival and other prestigious institutes and was the second-place winner of the Athens 6th International Conducting Competition, earning an invitation to return and work with the Athens Philharmonic.
And this week, Paolucci was contracted by the New York Philharmonic to assist their famed new music director Gustavo Dudamel, for several weeks as he prepares to conduct the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang’s "The Wealth of Nations" later this month.
It is a potentially important step toward her deepest ambition. “My dream is to conduct in an honest way for an orchestra that really cares about the music,” said Paolucci, “To give orchestras an environment where they can play their best, at any level.”
Paolucci grew up in Palm Beach, where her mother, an elementary school teacher, and her father, a physical therapist for the elderly, fostered her and her younger sister Annabella’s considerable musical talents. (Annabella followed her sibling to the Frost School, where she is also studying violin and branching into a second career, getting a master’s in media production and scoring.)
Paolucci began playing violin in kindergarten at Palm Beach Public, an elementary school with a rare orchestral program, and continued through high school at Alexander Dreyfoos School of the Arts. In 2018 she won the Palm Beach Symphony’s concerto competition and was awarded an antique Italian violin that she still plays. The summer after high school, she was accepted into the National Youth Orchestra USA (NYO), a competitive and prestigious program for teenage musicians, and toured Europe and the U.S. under Sir Antonio Pappano, the famous chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.
But even as she played violin at the highest levels, Paolucci was drawn to the idea of interpreting music on a larger scale. “I was always interested in everything beyond my individual part,” she said. “I connected so much to the music that I always wanted to study more about the composers. During the tour with the National Youth Orchestra, I realized that I would only be able to express myself fully by going beyond the violin.”
She initially worried that her gender would hold her back. “I told myself there’s no way this is possible because I’d never seen a woman conductor,” she said. When she discovered the pioneering female conductor Marin Alsop, she was even more inspired. “I wanted to be a conductor that women looked up to so they could do the same. Or any woman who wants to do something where they’re not represented could see me as an example.”
Paolucci has continued community and educational efforts while she pursues her career. She conducts youth choirs, works with fellow NYO alumni, and is a conducting fellow at the Chelsea Symphony, an innovative cooperative orchestra. And she continues to play violin wherever she can. “I’m extremely lucky to be making music all the time,” she said.
She remains grateful to the Frost School for helping make that possible and is inspired to create similar opportunities for others. “The school made me feel so loved, but also like I want to support others to pass on that support,” she said. “This society would be so much better if we all supported each other.”
