STEFANO MONTANARI Conductor

Stefano Montanari graduated cum laude in Violin and Piano and received an M.A. in Chamber Music with Pier Narciso Masi at Florence’s Music Academy. He then received an additional diploma in Violin Performance at the Swiss-Italian School of Music in Lugano under the guidance of Carlo Chiarappa. He focused his studies on historically informed practice. Since 1995, he has been the first violin at the Accademia Bizantina in Ravenna under the direction of Ottavio Dantone. He is also the first violin of the Joachim Quartet which specialises in the performance of 18th-19th Century quartets, played with authentic instruments. He collaborates with leading exponents in the field of early music, particularly with Christophe Rousset and his ensemble, Les Talents Lyriques. M° Montanari teaches Baroque Violin at both the International Academy of Music in Milan and the "E.V. Dall’Abaco" Music Conservatory in Verona. He also holds master classes at the Ancient Music Academy in Urbino. He taught Baroque Violin and Chamber Music at the Music Conservatories in Cesena, Parma, Pesaro, Piacenza and at Lugano’s Swiss-Italian School of Music between 1993 and 1999. He has recently made his conducting debut with an As.Li.Co. production of Le Nozze di Figaro with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, followed by Mozart’s Messa KV 337 on the podium of the Accademia Bizantina. He was Konzertmeister in several performances of Concerto Köln. He participated in various concerts as both conductor and violin solo: Haydn’s The Seven Last Words and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with Accademia Bizantina; Vivaldi and Mendelssohn with Orchestra 1813. M° Montanari conducted Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Baroque Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, for a Christmas concert in 2007 and for a gala in honor of the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification, events that were both broadcast live on national television. Stefano Montanari is Principal Director of the “Jugendspodium Dresden- Venice” project. Highlights of his conducting career include regular collaborations with the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo (Don Gregorio; L’Elisir d'Amore; Don Pasquale and Piccinni’s La Cecchina, ossia la buona figliuola) and the Opéra de Lyon (Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Le Nozze di Figaro); Don Pasquale in Novara and Mantova; L’Elisir d’Amore in Lucca; a series of concerts in Canada with the Arion Ensemble; Semiramide Riconosciuta at the Musique Baroque de Beaune and at the Via Stellae in Santiago de Compostela; and Don Giovanni at the Opera-Atelier in Toronto. He started a research project that aims at producing the critical edition of operas of the 19th Century, particularly Donizetti, in collaboration with scholars of the Hochschule der Künste Bern. Amongst his past engagements it is worth mentioning La Cecchina and Così fan tutte at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo; L'Inganno felice, Così fan tutte, La Cambiale di matrimonio, L'Elisir d'amore and a series of concerts at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice; Die Zauberfloete and Carmen at the Opera the Lyon (awarded as the best opera staged in 2012 season); Dido and Aeneas at the Teatro Ristori in Verona ; Liederabend in Florence; Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Palermo; Bach's Sonatas and Partitas in Taranto and concerts in Palermo, Milan, Florence, Turin and Bern. He received huge acclaim for his baroque tour in Australia with the Brandeburg Cosort and for Le Comte Ory and a series of concerts in Lyon; Rossini's Stabat Mater and Barocco Remix, a ballet based on baroque music at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona; Così fan tutte in Moscow; concerts in Milan with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali and in Montréal with the Arion Baroque Orchestra. 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 Rome Opera conducting Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Baths of Caracalla. 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 and Aeneas by Purcell at the Opera in Florence, Bach's B minor Mass and other symphonic concerts as well as a series of concerts in Milan with the Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali. Montanari gained huge success conducting Il Viaggio a Reims (new production by Damiano Michieletto) in Amsterdam. Plans include: Agrippina in Antwerp; Le nozze di Figaro for the As.Li.Co. circuit in Italy (Como, Cremona, Brescia, Pavia, Bergamo); concerts in Palermo with the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo and at the Haendel Festival in Karlsruhe. M° Montanari will play all the sonatas and partitas for solo violin by Bach at the Stresa Festival. 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. Mr. Montanari has recorded for Foné, Frequenz, Denon, Opus 111, Erato, Virgin, Tactus, Astrée, Thymalus, Simphonya, Bottega Discantica, Decca, Oiseau Lyre and Naïve (receiving the MIDEM international award as best baroque recording both in 2007 and 2010). His recording of Corelli’s Violin Sonatas op. 5 for Arts received widespread recognition and numerous international prizes, including a Diapason d’Or. He was recently nominated for a Grammy Award (Best Classical Vocal Solo) for his recording of Purcell’s O Solitude with Andreas Scholl, Christophe Dumaux and Accademia Bizantina for Decca. His recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas has just been published for the Italian music magazine Amadeus. His method for Baroque Violin has recently been published by Carisch. He has collaborated and recorded with jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and composer Gianluigi Trovesi.

With the Fondazione Arena he conducted Dido and Aeneas staged at the Teatro Ristori in 2013; in 2014 he conducted at the Teatro Filarmonico the ballet Barocco Remix: Casanova. He returned to the Teatro Filarmonico for Il Barbiere di Siviglia performed in the “2014-2015 Opera and Ballet Season”. He debuts at the 2015 Arena di Verona Opera Festival conductinog Don Giovanni.