II Giardino Armonico
Founded in 1985 and conducted by Giovanni Antonini, has been established as one of the world’s leading period instrument ensembles, bringing together musicians from Europe’s relevant music institutions. The ensemble’s repertoire mainly focuses on the 17th and 18th century. Depending on the demands of each program, the group consists of six up to thirty musicians.
Il Giardino Armonico is regularly invited to festivals all over the world performing in the most important concert halls, and has received high acclaim for both concerts and opera productions, like Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Vivaldi's Ottone in Villa, Händel’s Agrippina, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, La Resurrezione and finally Giulio Cesare in Egitto with Cecilia Bartoli during the 2012 edition of the Salzburg Whitsun and Summer Festival.
Beside that, Il Giardino Armonico sustains an intense recording activity. After many years as an exclusive group of Teldec achieving several major awards for the recordings of works by Vivaldi and the other 18th century composers, the group had an exclusive agreement with Decca/L’Oiseau-Lyre recording Händel Concerti Grossi op. VI and the cantata Il Pianto di Maria with Bernarda Fink. The group also released on Naïve La Casa del Diavolo, Vivaldi Cello Concertos with Christophe Coin, and the opera Ottone in Villa winning the Diapason d'Or in 2011. On the label Onyx the Vivaldi Violin Concertos with Viktoria Mullova.
After the universal success and the Grammy Award received for The Vivaldi Album with Cecilia Bartoli (Decca, 2000), in 2009 a new cooperation with her led to the project Sacrificium (Decca), Platinum Album in France and Belgium and prized again by the Grammy Award. Also on Decca Alleluia (March 2013) and Händel in Italy (October 2015) with Julia Lezhneva, acclaimed by public and critics. In co-production with National Forum of Music in Wroclaw (Poland) the group published Serpent & Fire with Anna Prohaska (Alpha Classics – Outhere music group, 2016) winning the ICMA “baroque vocal” in 2017. On Alpha Classics also Telemann in 2016 (CD and LP), winning the Diapason d’Or de l'année and the Echo Klassik award in 2017. The recording of five Mozart Violin Concertos with Isabel Faust (Harmonia Mundi, 2016) stands as the result of the prestigious cooperation with the great violinist, and it won the Gramophone Award and Le Choc de l'année in 2017. Il Giardino Armonico is part of the twenty-year project Haydn2032 for which the Haydn Foundation has been created in Basel to support both the recording project of the complete Haydn Symphonies (Alpha Classic) and a series of concerts in various European cities, with thematic programs focused on this fascinating repertoire. In November 2014 the first album titled La Passione has been published and won the Echo Klassik award in 2015. Il Filosofo, issued in 2015, has been “CHOC of the year” by Classica. The third one Solo e Pensoso has been released in August 2016, and the forth Il Distratto in March 2017, winning the Gramophone Award in 2017. The last volumes of the Haydn2032 project are available as CD and LP too.
Furthermore the ensemble worked with such acclaimed soloists as Giuliano Carmignola, Sol Gabetta, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Viktoria Mullova, and Giovanni Sollima.
The most recent projects include the recording of La Morte della Ragione (co-produced with National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, published by Alpha Classics and awarded with the Diapason d’Or in 2019), a program focused on the raise of Baroque sensibility through Europe and the search for a renewed listening experience of early music.
In 2018 the group continued the collaboration with the young and gifted violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja with a new program of fertile tension between past and future, bringing together philological accuracy and contemporary music. Soon published on Alpha Classics.
Il Giardino Armonico is regularly invited to festivals all over the world performing in the most important concert halls, and has received high acclaim for both concerts and opera productions, like Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Vivaldi's Ottone in Villa, Händel’s Agrippina, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, La Resurrezione and finally Giulio Cesare in Egitto with Cecilia Bartoli during the 2012 edition of the Salzburg Whitsun and Summer Festival.
Beside that, Il Giardino Armonico sustains an intense recording activity. After many years as an exclusive group of Teldec achieving several major awards for the recordings of works by Vivaldi and the other 18th century composers, the group had an exclusive agreement with Decca/L’Oiseau-Lyre recording Händel Concerti Grossi op. VI and the cantata Il Pianto di Maria with Bernarda Fink. The group also released on Naïve La Casa del Diavolo, Vivaldi Cello Concertos with Christophe Coin, and the opera Ottone in Villa winning the Diapason d'Or in 2011. On the label Onyx the Vivaldi Violin Concertos with Viktoria Mullova.
After the universal success and the Grammy Award received for The Vivaldi Album with Cecilia Bartoli (Decca, 2000), in 2009 a new cooperation with her led to the project Sacrificium (Decca), Platinum Album in France and Belgium and prized again by the Grammy Award. Also on Decca Alleluia (March 2013) and Händel in Italy (October 2015) with Julia Lezhneva, acclaimed by public and critics. In co-production with National Forum of Music in Wroclaw (Poland) the group published Serpent & Fire with Anna Prohaska (Alpha Classics – Outhere music group, 2016) winning the ICMA “baroque vocal” in 2017. On Alpha Classics also Telemann in 2016 (CD and LP), winning the Diapason d’Or de l'année and the Echo Klassik award in 2017. The recording of five Mozart Violin Concertos with Isabel Faust (Harmonia Mundi, 2016) stands as the result of the prestigious cooperation with the great violinist, and it won the Gramophone Award and Le Choc de l'année in 2017. Il Giardino Armonico is part of the twenty-year project Haydn2032 for which the Haydn Foundation has been created in Basel to support both the recording project of the complete Haydn Symphonies (Alpha Classic) and a series of concerts in various European cities, with thematic programs focused on this fascinating repertoire. In November 2014 the first album titled La Passione has been published and won the Echo Klassik award in 2015. Il Filosofo, issued in 2015, has been “CHOC of the year” by Classica. The third one Solo e Pensoso has been released in August 2016, and the forth Il Distratto in March 2017, winning the Gramophone Award in 2017. The last volumes of the Haydn2032 project are available as CD and LP too.
Furthermore the ensemble worked with such acclaimed soloists as Giuliano Carmignola, Sol Gabetta, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Viktoria Mullova, and Giovanni Sollima.
The most recent projects include the recording of La Morte della Ragione (co-produced with National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, published by Alpha Classics and awarded with the Diapason d’Or in 2019), a program focused on the raise of Baroque sensibility through Europe and the search for a renewed listening experience of early music.
In 2018 the group continued the collaboration with the young and gifted violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja with a new program of fertile tension between past and future, bringing together philological accuracy and contemporary music. Soon published on Alpha Classics.
