Stefano Montanari - conductor

One of the most outstanding baroque violinists his generation, Stefano Montanari is now much in demand as a conductor both with modern and period orchestras. Amongst his recent engagements, it is worth mentioning: Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte and Carmen at the Opéra de Lyon (Carmen has been awarded as the best opera staged in France in 2012); Dido and Aeneas at the Teatro Ristori in Verona; L’Elisir d’Amore at the Teatro La fenice in Venice; Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. His concert appearances include: a Liederabend with Marianna Pizzolato for the opening of the Amici della Musica di Firenze (playing the fortepiano); Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin in Taranto; a concert tour in Australia with the Brandenburg Consort; concerts in Palermo, Milan, Florence, Turin, Padua, Zurich and Bern in the role of solo violin and conductor.

M° Montanari was recently nominated for a Grammy Award (Best Classical Vocal Solo) for his recording of Purcell’s O Solitude with Andreas Scholl for Decca. His recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas has just been published for the Italian music magazine Amadeus and he has just edited a Baroque Violin method for Carisch.

Future plans include: Le Comte Ory and a series of concerts in Lyon; Don Giovanni, L’Inganno Felice and series of concerts at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice; Così fan Tutte at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow; Rossini’s Stabat Mater and a Baroque ballet the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona; a new production of Il Viaggio a Reims at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam; Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas in Treviso; concerts in Milan with LaVerdi and with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali, in London at the Wigmore Hall, and in Montréal with the Arion Baroque Orchestra. He will also play in several concerts with his own ensemble L’Estravagante in Italy and Europe.

Silvia Frigato - Soprano*

Winner of the “Francesco Provenzale” International Baroque singing competition in Naples (2007), she furthers her studies under the guidance of Sara Mingardo. She regularly performs at numerous prestigious concert venues and festivals, including: Monteverdi Festival in Cremona; Musica e Poesia a San Maurizio in Milan; Centro di Musica Antica Pietà de’ Turchini in Naples; Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca; Misteria Paschalia in Krakow; KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen in Hannover; Festival de Radio France in Montpellier, to name only a few. Ms. Frigato regularly collaborates with such artists as Rinaldo Alessandrini, Gianluca Capuano, Claudio Cavina, Ottavio Dantone, Antonio Florio, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Philippe Herreweghe, Sigiswald Kuijken and such ensembles as Collegium Vocale Gent, Accademia Bizantina, La Divina Armonia, La Venexiana, I Turchini, Gambe di Legno Consort, Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca. Silvia Frigato has recorded for Naïve, Tactus, Brillant and Glossa and her recordings have been broadcasted by RAI Radio 3, Radio France, ORF and many others. She recently enjoyed a great success as Euridice in Caccini’s L’Euridice at the Innsbruck Festival under Rinaldo Alessandrini and in Wroclaw, where she performed La Betulia Liberata by Mozart under Corrado Rovaris.

Future plans: Caldara’s Morte e Sepoltura di Cristo in Stavanger under Fabio Biondi; Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine with the Monteverdi Choir under Joh Eliot Gardiner in Barcelona, Cambridge, Versailles and at the Salzburg Festival; Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with Fderico Maria Sardelli and Denis Krief; L’Incoronazione di Poppea at La Scala under Rinaldo Alessandrini, in the new production by Robert Wilson; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater in Basel; Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in Lisbon.