Fabio Biondi
Baroque violinist Fabio Biondi has been a pioneer in historically informed musical performance in his native Italy, both as a soloist and as the leader of his own Europa Galante ensemble. His sharp, energetic style has continued to influence the performance of Baroque music even as he has broadened his repertory across a 300-year period.
Biondi was born in Palermo, on the island of Sicily, on March 15, 1961. He showed talent in his violin lessons with Salvatore Cicero, who later bequeathed to him the use of the Carlo Ferdinando Gagliano violin of 1766 that he would play as an adult. By 12, Biondi was performing concertos with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra. One decisive turning point came when he met historically oriented violin players as a teen and immediately became fascinated by the Baroque and Classical forms of the instrument (which differ from the modern ones in their strings, bridges, and bows rather than in the body of the instrument itself). When he was 16, he gave a concert on Baroque violin at Vienna's famed Musikverein, and he formed his own historical-instrument string quartet, the Stendhal Quartet, soon after that; the group did not focus exclusively on Baroque and Classical music but simply performed all its music, which included several commissioned contemporary compositions, on temporally appropriate instruments. Biondi went on to study at the Rome Conservatory, winning the school's first prize in violin. He performed with leading historical-instrument groups, including Jordi Savall's Hespèrion XX (now Hespèrion XXI) and Les Musiciens du Louvre in the late '80s. Biondi's breakthrough came after he formed the Baroque ensemble Europa Galante in 1990. The group's recording debut came almost immediately, with the album Vivaldi: String Concerti on the Opus 111 label.
At the time, Europa Galante was the first historical-instrument Baroque group in Italy, which had lagged behind northwestern Europe, Britain, and Austria in the field. Pent-up demand brought the group immediate success; within a few years, the group had made several best-selling recordings, including one of Vivaldi's Four Seasons violin concertos that sold 500,000 copies, and Europa Galante had snared invitations to prestigious venues, including New York's Lincoln Center, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome (one of several venues where they have backed opera productions), and London's Royal Albert Hall. Biondi has also conducted modern symphony orchestras, including the Radio France Philharmonic and the Gran Canaria Symphony Orchestra.
Biondi's recording career has been marked by extensive activity as both a violinist and conductor. As a soloist, he has recorded for Opus 111, Virgin Classics, and Glossa, releasing a 2019 recording, The 1690 "Tuscan" Stradivari, on the latter label. The previous year, he had conducted Europa Galante in a historical-instrument performance of Verdi's early opera Macbeth. Biondi and Europa Galante released several albums in 2022, including Mendelssohn, which featured a selection of the composer's works for strings. By that year, Biondi's catalog comprised some 100 recordings.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Vivaldi: Concerti per violino XI 'Per Anna Maria'
Klassiek - Released by naïve on 22 sep. 2023
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Antonio Vivaldi : Les quatre saisons
Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante, Antonio Vivaldi
Kamermuziek - Released by naïve classique on 15 nov. 1991
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Argippo
Europe Galante, Fabio Biondi, Emöke Baráth, Delphine Galou, Marianna Pizzolato
Opera - Released by naïve classique on 20 nov. 2020
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Antonio Vivaldi : "La Stravaganza"
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 4 apr. 2011
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Johan Helmich Roman: Assaggi per violino solo
Klassiek - Released by Naive on 3 mei 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi : Ercole (Intégrale)
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 26 nov. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi : Concerti per la Pietà
Fabio Biondi, Andrea Rognoni, Alessandro Andriana, Giangiacomo Pinardi, Europe Galante, Paola Poncet
Klassiek - Released by Glossa on 7 feb. 2020
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Paganini: Sonatas for Violin & Guitar
Fabio Biondi, Giangiacomo Pinardi
Kamermuziek - Released by Glossa on 22 jun. 2018
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Concerti
Klassiek - Released by naïve classique on 1 jan. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boccherini: String & Guitar Quintets, Minuet in A Major
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 4 apr. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Sonate di Dresda
Fabio Biondi, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Maurizio Naddeo
Klassiek - Released by naïve classique on 1 jan. 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Sonatas & Partitas
Klassiek - Released by Naive on 15 okt. 2021
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
The 1690 "Tuscan" Stradivari
Fabio Biondi, Antonio Fantinuoli, Giangiacomo Pinardi, Paola Poncet
Kamermuziek - Released by Glossa on 17 mei 2019
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Vicaldi: Musik für Gitarre, Laute & Mandoline
Fabio Biondi, Anthony Bailes, Christopher Parkening
Klassiek - Released by EMI on 15 aug. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opera in musica, Carlo Monza Quartets
Klassiek - Released by Naive on 22 apr. 2022
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'invenzione, Op. 8
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jun. 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Il Diario di Chiara: Music from La Pietà in Venice in the 18th century
Europe Galante, Fabio Biondi, Paola Poncet
Klassiek - Released by Glossa on 4 feb. 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Luigi Boccherini : Trio, Quartet, Quintet & Sextet for strings
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 30 jan. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boccherini: Guitar Quintets, G. 448 "Fandango" & G. 453 "Ritirada di Madrid" - String Quartet, G. 194
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 3 nov. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: XII Suonate à violino solo, e basso per il cembalo
Fabio Biondi, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Maurizio Naddeo, Paolo Pandolfo
Klassiek - Released by Arcana on 5 jun. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leclair: Premier livre de sonates à violon seul avec la basse continue
Rinaldo Alessandrini, Maurizio Naddeo, Pascal Monteilhet, Fabio Biondi
Klassiek - Released by Arcana on 1 jan. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo