The renowned harpsichordist, pianist, organist and founder of the ensemble Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini, is regarded as one of the world’s leading interpreters of Monteverdi and the Baroque repertoire. His profound knowledge of and passion for the Italian repertoire are naturally reflected in programmes in which he seeks to reproduce the essential, yet often elusive, expressive and cantabile elements that are so fundamental to Italian music of the 17th and 18th centuries. As the leader of Concerto Italiano, he has been performing for decades on major stages around the world and has made numerous award-winning recordings with the ensemble.
Alessandrini’s recent engagements as a guest conductor include, among others, Handel’s Alcina and Giulio Cesare at the Opera di Roma, Giulio Cesare at the New National Theatre in Tokyo, Rinaldo at the Händel-Festspiele in Karlsruhe, concerts with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the orchestra of the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston, the Musikalische Akademie of the Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim, as well as concert tours in France with the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Normandie and in Germany with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester.
Over the course of his career, Rinaldo Alessandrini has performed in Japan, Canada, the USA and throughout Europe with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Freiburger Barockorchester, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra, the Italian Radio Orchestra, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Copenhagen Radio Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Liverpool Royal Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, Washington Symphony, New World Symphony Orchestra in Miami, Orchestra of Santiago Opera House (Chile), Toulouse Capitole Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Basel Kammerorchester, Seattle Symphony, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden and Tokyo Philharmonic, to name just a few.
His recordings (for Naïve, Astrèe, Arcana and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi — around 120 titles in total) encompass not only Italian music, but also Bach and his contemporaries. Alessandrini has received the highest accolades from critics, including five Gramophone Awards, two Grand Prix du Disque, three German Record Critics’ Awards, the Prix Caecilia, the Premio Cini and four Midem Awards in Cannes.
Rinaldo Alessandrini was appointed Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and, together with Concerto Italiano, received the prestigious Premio Abbiati from the Italian music critics. He is also an “accademico” of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.