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 : I concerti dell'addio
Conciertos para violín - Editado por Glossa el 24/02/2015
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
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Leclair: Violin Concertos, Op. 7 Nos. 1, 3, 4 & 5
Clásica - Editado por Glossa el 5/05/2017
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: L'Estro Armonico, Op. 3
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1/05/1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Solo Violin, TWV 40
Clásica - Editado por Glossa el 29/09/2016
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Stabat Mater, Nisi Dominus, Longe mala & O qui coeli terraeque serenitas
David Daniels, Europe Galante, Fabio Biondi
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 14/01/2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Concerti con molti strumenti - Concerti per mandolini
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1/01/2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Les Quatre Saisons
Clásica - Editado por naïve el 3/09/2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1/01/2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Allegro from Violin Concerto RV 229
Clásica - Editado por naïve el 28/07/2023
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Geminiani: Concerti grossi, Op. 3
Clásica - Editado por naïve classique el 1/01/1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Cantatas & Arias
Ian Bostridge, Fabio Biondi, Europe Galante
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 10/01/2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Concerti
Fabio Biondi, Adrian Chamorro, Maurizio Naddeo
Música de cámara - Editado por naïve classique el 1/01/1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Laudate pueri, In turbato mare irato, In furore & O qui coeli
Patrizia Ciofi, Europe Galante, Fabio Biondi
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1/01/2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: La tempesta di mare & Concerti con titoli
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1/05/2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, JS: Four Concertos, BWV 1060, BWV 1056, BWV 1052 & BWV 1054
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1/11/1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Quintettes à cordes
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1/03/2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Locatelli: Concerti grossi, Il pianto d'Arianna
Clásica - Editado por naïve classique el 23/05/1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Bajazet
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 4/04/2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 1/01/2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concertos pour viole d'amour
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics el 15/10/2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo