Concerto Italiano
Concerto Italiano is a Baroque music group consisting of both a vocal and an orchestral ensemble. After gaining recognition in Europe, it has toured throughout the world and taken on major recording projects. In 2022, the group issued a recording of music by Vivaldi and Bach.
Concerto Italiano was founded in 1984 by harpsichordist Rinaldo Alessandrini. The group gave its debut concert in Rome in 1984 in a performance of Francesco Cavalli's opera La Calisto, under the direction of Alessandrini, who has served as the group's music director since its founding. For the first decade of its existence, it was a vocal group only, known for performances of Monteverdi madrigals and the operas and oratorios of Handel, A. Scarlatti, and other Baroque composers. During this decade, the group gradually built up a reputation in Europe as one of Italy's finest Baroque vocal ensembles. It drew broad international notice for a recording of Monteverdi's Fourth Book of Madrigals, which received a 1994 Gramophone Award, the first of five. The following year, Alessandrini formed the orchestral ensemble. In 1997, the vocal ensemble debuted in Japan, drawing lavish reviews. The orchestral ensemble drew an equally enthusiastic response for its American debut in 1999 at Lincoln Center. That tour also included concerts in South America, Japan, and parts of Europe.
After the orchestral arm of Concerto Italiano was founded, the ensemble began taking particular interest in the instrumental and operatic works of Vivaldi. In the 2000s, Concerto Italiano engaged in a massive project with the label Naïve to record all of the operas and concertos of Vivaldi. The ensemble has also devoted time to the works of J.S. Bach, Pergolesi, and lesser-known composers such as Giovanni Legrenzi and Francesco Cavalli. In 2000, the group drew acclaim for its Bach performances at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. On rare occasions, the group has ventured beyond Baroque repertory, most notably in an acclaimed 2001 recording of Rossini arias with soprano María Bayo.
Concerto Italiano recordings have primarily been released by Naïve and its subsidiary Opus 111, although some of the older recordings are available on Brilliant Classics. The most recent of the group's Gramophone Awards came in 2015 for the album Monteverdi: Vespri solenni per la festa di San Marco. In 2017, the ensemble put on a world tour performing Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the composer's birth. In 2019, Concerto Italiano released an album of Bach overtures and issued a recording of Monteverdi's third book of madrigals the following year. The group returned in 2022 with a recording of music by Vivaldi and Bach.
© Robert Cummings /TiVo
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Discography
18 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Vivaldi 12 Concertos Op.3 'Estro Armonico', Bach Keyboards Arrangements
Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano
Classical - Released by naïve on Mar 25, 2022
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Giovanni Legrenzi: Mottetti
Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano
Classical - Released by Naive on Apr 28, 2023
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi: Daylight. Stories of Songs, Dances and Loves
Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano
Classical - Released by Naive on Nov 5, 2021
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi : Il sesto libro de madrigali, MDCXIV
Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
Secular Vocal Music - Released by Arcana on Jan 27, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi: Il terzo libro de madrigali
Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano
Opera - Released by naïve classique on Oct 30, 2020
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Gloria - Magnificat
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by naïve classique on Jun 9, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messa Romana - Messa per il Santo Natale
Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano, Alessandro Scarlatti, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released by naïve classique on Jan 5, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concertos pour cordes
Rinaldo Alessandrini, Fabio Biondi, Concerto Italiano, Adrian Chamorro
Classical - Released by Tactus on Mar 17, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Palestrina: Il primo libro de Madrigali a quattro voci
Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
Classical - Released by Tactus on Oct 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Concertos & Cantatas
Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Sara Mingardo
Classical - Released by naïve classique on Feb 17, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Concerti per archi
Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
Concertos - Released by Tactus on Feb 17, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Palestrina: Il primo libro di madrigali
Classical - Released by Tactus on Oct 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi: Vorrei baciarti, o Filli
Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano, Elena Carzaniga, Andrés Montilla
Classical - Released by naïve on Nov 4, 2022
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi: Madrigali sui testo del Tasso dal I, II, III e IV Libro dei Madrigali
Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini
Classical - Released by Tactus on Oct 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Frescobaldi: Primo Libro dei Madrigali
Music by vocal ensembles - Released by naïve classique on Jun 21, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Giovanni Legrenzi: Ave, Regina caelorum
Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano
Classical - Released by naïve on Apr 7, 2023
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Concerti Per Archi (Concerto Italiano)
Classical - Released by Tactus on Nov 21, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Il terzo libro de madrigali a cinque voci
Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano
Opera - Released by naïve classique on Oct 21, 2020
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo