Rinaldo Alessandrini (harpsichord / organ)
In addition to his activities as Founder-Director of Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini is renowned as a conductor and recitalist on the harpsichord, fortepiano and organ. He is considered one of the most authoritative interpreters of Monteverdi worldwide, and has a profound knowledge and love of the Italian repertoire naturally reflected in programmes reproducing the essential, but often elusive, expressive and cantabile elements so fundamental to Italian music of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Rinaldo has performed in Japan, Canada, USA, and throughout Europe, and is in increasing demand to direct leading international orchestras: Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Freiburger Barockorchester, Boston Handel and Haydn Society, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra, Italian RadioOrchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Ciudad de Granada, the Orchestra of the Spoleto Festival, Orchestra Regionale della Toscana, Orchestra Toscanini, Orchestra of Montpellier Radio France, Orchestra of Bordeaux Opera House, Oviedo Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Lyon Opera House, Munich Radio Orchestra, Koeln Radio Orchestra, Copenhagen Radio Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Philarmonia Baroque Orchestra, Liverpool Royal Philharmonic, Orchestra Haydn Bolzano, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Washington Symphony Orchestra, Capitole Orchestra in Toulouse, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Basel Kammerorchester, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Italian Radio Orchestra, Genéve Chamber Orchestra, Bergen Philarmonich Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin.
He also recently presented the complete Monteverdi opera cycle at La Scala, directed by Bob Wilson. 2017 sees Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano celebrate the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi, with tours to China, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and the USA. Further highlights include concerts with the orchestra of Badisches Staatstheater, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, Hessischer Rundfunk, Grafenegg Tonkuenstler-Orchester, RIAS Kammerchor and Akamus, Orchestre National du Capitole. Rinaldo is also music director of the “Purtimiro” Festival in Lugo.
His recordings (Opus 111, Astrèe, Arcana, Deutsche, harmonia mundi) include not only Italian music, but Bach and his contemporaries. Rinaldo has garnered the highest critical acclaim, including 5 Gramophone Awards, 2 Grand Prix du Disque, 3 Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Prix Caecilia, the PremioCini and 4 Midem Awards in Cannes. Also his recent CD release (2021) with Bach harpsichord works was celebrated by the press.
Rinaldo Alessandrini was nominated Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture, and together with Concerto Italiano was awarded the Italian music critics’ prestigious Premio Abbiati. He was editor for Baerenreiter’s editions of Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Ulisse.