La Serenissima
Since its formation in 1994, La Serenissima has established a reputation as a top historical-performance group in the U.K. and beyond. The group balances original scholarly content with accessible playing that has had a broad appeal and has even been featured on U.S. television.
"La Serenissima" is part of the formal name for the city-state of Venice, in full La Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia ("The Most Serene Republic of Venice"). Indeed, the group has specialized in the music of Antonio Vivaldi and other Venetian composers, gradually broadening its focus but generally retaining a strong sense of Baroque music as it lived in a specific place. La Serenissima first came into existence as an ad hoc group formed for a 1994 performance of the rarely heard Vivaldi trio serenade La Senna festeggiante, RV 693. Its director was violinist Adrian Chandler, a native of Merseyside and a graduate of the Royal College of Music, who had studied both modern and Baroque violin. When he formed La Serenissima, he was still a student.
La Serenissima recorded its first album, Per Monsieur Pisendel, in 2003. The album featured the music of Johann Georg Pisendel, a violin virtuoso and composer; Chandler himself was the soloist. The group has recorded unusual material, generally working from manuscript sources, but has also recorded works as familiar as Vivaldi's Four Seasons violin concertos (in 2016, albeit in an unusual English edition). Between 2006 and 2008, the group released a three-album series devoted to the rise of the northern Italian violin concerto, and the following year saw the appearance of Vivaldi: The French Connection, an album examining the popularity of Vivaldi's music in France. The group has performed widely across the U.K. and beyond, appearing at Bridgewater Hall, Sage Gateshead, and Wigmore Hall, among other venues. La Serenissima held a residence at the St. John's Smith's Square venue under the rubric "The Grand Tour" and has appeared at various festivals, including the Vivaldi in Venice Festival in 2017.
Even with its scholarly orientation, La Serenissima has released albums such as Venice at Night (2012) that are aimed squarely at general audiences. The group's second Pisendel album, Per Monsieur Pisendel 2 (2014), was featured in the U.S. television series The Originals. La Serenissima issued The Italian Job, an album devoted to virtuoso concertos from various Italian cities, in 2017. La Serenissima's 2018 album Vivaldi x2, devoted to double concertos by Vivaldi, topped classical sales charts in Britain and was chosen as album of the week by the crossover-oriented Classic FM radio network. La Serenissima moved to the Signum Classics label for The Godfather: Masters of the German & Italian Baroque in 2019, following it up with Extra Time, an album of Baroque rarities that the group had intended for previous releases. La Serenissima remained active during the COVID-19 pandemic, issuing six albums on Signum Classics between 2021 and 2023. All of these dealt with little-known and newly unearthed Baroque repertory; the 2023 release An Englishman Abroad: Nicola Matteis the Younger and the English Style in 18th Century Europe was representative.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Unlocked, Brescianello Vol. 2
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Classical - Released by Signum Records on Oct 27, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
'Diavolo': Giuseppe Tartini - 6 Violin Sonatas
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Classical - Released by Signum Records on Mar 22, 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Behind Closed Doors, Brescianello Vol. 1
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Classical - Released by Signum Records on Oct 8, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
An Englishman Abroad
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Chamber Music - Released by Signum Records on May 5, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons • Concertos for Bassoon & Violin 'in tromba marina'
Adrian Chandler, La Serenissima, Peter Whelan
Classical - Released by Avie Records on Sep 4, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Italian Job (Caldara, Corelli, Albinoni, Tartini...)
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Classical - Released by Avie Records on Feb 24, 2017
Gramophone AwardGramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Forza Azzurri!
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Classical - Released by Signum Records on Nov 11, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi's Women
La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Aug 26, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: The French Connection (Concertos for Flute, Violin, Bassoon & Strings)
Adrian Chandler, La Serenissima
Classical - Released by Avie Records on Jul 2, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Per Monsieur Pisendel 2 (Six Virtuoso Violin Sonatas of the Baroque)
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Classical - Released by Avie Records on Jul 8, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi x2
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Classical - Released by AVIE Records on Jul 9, 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Settecento
La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler, Tabea Debus
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Feb 12, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Extra Time
La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Jul 31, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Rise of the North Italian Violin Concerto 1690–1740 | Volume 3: The Golden Age
Adrian Chandler, La Serenissima
Classical - Released by Avie Records on Jun 24, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Rise of the North Italian Violin Concerto 1690–1740 | Volume 1: The Dawn of the Virtuoso
La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler, Mhairi Lawson
Classical - Released by Avie Records on Aug 21, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Rise of the North Italian Violin Concerto 1690–1740 | Volume 2: Antonio Vivaldi - Virtuoso Impresario (Concertos, Arias & Sinfonia)
La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on Jul 10, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Concerto Il Gran Mogol for Flute, Strings & Continuo in D, RV431a
Classical - Released by Avie Records on Feb 28, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: The French Connection 2 (Concertos for Flute, Oboe, Violin, Bassoon & Strings)
Adrian Chandler, La Serenissima
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on Jun 2, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: L’Amore per Elvira
La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler, Mhairi Lawson
Classical - Released by Linn Records on Jun 1, 2006
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
The Godfather
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Classical - Released by Signum Records on Nov 15, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Concerto Movement for Violin, Strings & Continuo in a: I. Allegro
La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Oct 25, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo