Stefano Montanari - conductor

One of the most outstanding baroque violinists of his generation, Stefano Montanari is now much in demand as a conductor with both modern and period orchestras. Stefano Montanari was nominated for a Grammy Award for his recording of Purcell’s O Solitude with Andreas Scholl for Decca. His recording of Bach’sSonatas and Partitas was published for the Italian music magazine Amadeus. He recently wrote a Baroque Violin method, published by Carisch. M° Montanari lately made his theatre debut at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow conducting Così Fan Tutte. In Venice, where he regularly appears both in opera and concert, he recently conducted Cavalli’s Eritrea (first performance in modern times), L’Inganno Felice and Don Giovanni. He also made his debut with the Opera in Rome at the Terme di Caracalla conducting Il Barbiere di Siviglia, an opera he also conducted at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona. Always active as a virtuoso violinist, Stefano Montanari has just played the whole series of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas at the Opéra de Lyon. After a successful concert with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, he has been reinvited to conduct Dido & Aeneas at the Opera in Florence, Bach’s B minor mass and other symphonic concerts; he also recently returned to I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan conducting a symphonic concert. Stefano Montanari obtained a huge success conducting Il Viaggio a Reims (new production by Damiano Michieletto) in Amsterdam. His most recent engagements include: Caldara’s Dafne at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, Don Giovanni at the Arena in Verona and Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by Bach at the Settimane Musicali in Stresa; an all Haydn concert series for MiTo Festival. Stefano Montanari regularly collaborates and records with jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and composer Gianluigi Trovesi.

Future plans: Agrippina in Antwerp; L’Elisir d’Amore and symphonic concerts at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice; La Clemenza di Tito (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall with the Russian National Orchestra) and Così fan Tutte (Bolshoi) in Moscow; Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Warsaw Philharmonic in Warsaw; concerts in Florence with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, in Turin with the Filarmonica del Teatro Regio di Torino, in Milan with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali and at the Handel Festival in Karlsruhe. He will also play in several concerts with his own ensemble L’Estravagante in Italy and Europe, with the Arion Baroque Orchestra in Montréal and he will return to the Opéra de Lyon involved in several new projects, among which Die Entführung aus dem Serail and a baroque concert.

Carlo Checchi - Antonio

Young Italian baritone born in Pavia, Carlo Checchi specialized at the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro. In the past seasons he took part in I Pagliacci, Zeffirelli directing, at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari and he sang Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri at the Festival in Cesi; Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Valle in Rome and for the Circuito Toscano in Italy in the theaters of Pisa, Lucca and Livorno; Madama Butterfly for the AsLiCo circuit in Italy (Brescia, Como, Pavia, Cremona and Reggio Emilia); Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari; Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Opera House in Muscat; Le nozze di Figaro in Tirana; Il Viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. Plans include: Un Ballo in Maschera for OperaLombardia (Como, Cremona, Pavia, Brescia e Bergamo); Carmina Burana in Tirana; Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Novara.