Vivaldi: Bajazet

Description

Fabio Biondi is one of the most important and influential figures of the Baroque period-instrument movement. Born in Palermo, he made his concerto debut with the RAI Symphony Orchestra at the age of twelve, and gave his first recital on a Baroque violin in Vienna's Musikverein when he was sixteen. He went on to work with such distinguished groups as Musica Antiqua Wien, La Chapelle Royale, Il Seminario musicale and Les Musiciens du Louvre, before founding his own ensemble, Europa Galante, in 1990. With Biondi as soloist and director, Europa Galante's performances and recordings of Italian Baroque music in particular rapidly established them as one of the world's foremost original-instrument ensembles, with a distinctive Italian style. Biondi's desire to free period performance of convention and musicological dogma has resulted in some of the most spontaneous and impassioned performances of this inexhaustible repertoire in modern times. Europa Galante now perform worldwide, from La Scala Milan, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Royal Albert Hall, London, to New York's Lincoln Center, Tokyo's Suntory Hall and the Sydney Opera House. Fabio Biondi collaborates as both soloist and conductor with many other orchestras, including the orchestra of Santa Cecilia, Rome, the Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra, the Hallé Opera Orchestra and the European Baroque Orchestra. He also performs worldwide as a recitalist in repertoire that extends to Bach, Schubert and Schumann. Fabio Biondi's many recordings with Europa Galante have been universally acclaimed. In 1998 Fabio Biondi signed an exclusive contract with Virgin Classics as soloist and director of Europa Galante. His extensive discography now includes concertos by Vivaldi, Bach and Scarlatti, sacred motets by Vivaldi and cantatas by Bach, the oratorio La Santissima Trinità by Alessandro Scarlatti and, with individual members of Europa Galante, quintets by Boccherini (immediately labelled `essential' by Gramophone), and eighteenth-century Italian violin sonatas. More recently, released in spring 2005, their world-premiere recording of Vivaldi's opera Bajazet met with great critical acclaim, a release which was followed in the autumn of 2005 by a second volume of Vivaldi's 'Concerti con molti strumenti'. In spring 2006 for Mozart's anniversary year, Fabio Biondi moved into the Classical territory, releasing a disc of Mozart's first three violin concertos. Later came Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and Salve Regina, with David Daniels and Dorothea Röschmann.