Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini

Swiss Baroque violinist and conductor Chiara Banchini studied at the Geneva Conservatory and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague before teaching at the Centre of Ancient Music in Geneva. In 1981 she moved to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel where she formed Ensemble 415, specialising in Baroque music. With them she made many recordings, notably of Corelli's 'Concerto Grosso Op. 6' in 1992, which was critically acclaimed. The most popular recording she made with Ensemble 415 was of Vivaldi's 'Stabat Mater' (1998) featuring German countertenor Andreas Scholl. This was one of his first recordings and led to him becoming more widely known in the classical music world. The ensemble toured throughout Europe performing this and other works.

In 2009, Ensemble 415 released an album of Albinoni's 'Sinfonie a Cinque, Op. 2' played as chamber music pieces, which was hailed as the best recording of a work by Albinoni for some years. Banchini's first chamber music recording release was 'Italian Violin Music' in 1986 with Gerhardt Darmstadt and Alfred Gross. As violin soloist she has recorded many works including Corelli's 'Sonatas for Violin, Op. 5' (1989), Boccherini's 'Stabat Mater' (1992), Mozart's 'Sonatas for Violin and Piano' (1994) and Bonporti's 'Invenzioni a Violino Solo' (2003).