Francesco Corti

Keyboardist and conductor Francesco Corti is a prominent figure in the early music movement in Italy, France, and the Netherlands. In 2021, he released the second in a series of Bach harpsichord concertos he is recording for the PentaTone label. Corti was born in Arezzo in 1984. His family was musical, and his mother gave him piano lessons when he was a child. Corti attended the Morlacchi Conservatory in Perugia, studying organ and composition with Wijnand van de Pol, and went on for advanced degrees in harpsichord at the Conservatoire Superieure de Musique in Geneva, Switzerland, and at the Amsterdam Conservatory, where he studied with Bob van Asperen. Corti has given solo recitals in some of Europe's most prestigious venues, including the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Salle Pleyel in Paris, as well as around the U.S., Latin America, and Asia. He has been especially visible at major European festivals, including the Salzburger Festspiele, BachFest Leipzig, and MusikFest Bremen. Corti has been or remains a member of several major early music ensembles such as Jordi Savall's Le Concert des Nations, Les Musiciens du Louvre, and Les Talens Lyriques. Corti has conducted Les Musiciens du Louvre regularly since 2015 and has been principal guest conductor of Il Pomo d'Oro since 2018. He has branched out into opera conducting, leading a touring European production of Handel's Orlando, HWV 31. In 2021, he was slated to conduct Handel's Agrippina, HWV 6, at the Royal Theater in Drottningholm, Sweden. Corti made his recording debut in 2007 on the Genuin label, performing harpsichord suites of Louis Couperin on an original Ruckers harpsichord. He has since recorded for Brilliant, Evidence, and Arcana, playing music by Haydn and Mozart as well as Baroque repertory. Signed to the PentaTone label, he planned a series of recordings of Bach's keyboard concertos. Since 2016, Corti has been on the faculty of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, teaching harpsichord.
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