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| Rinaldo Alessandrini | |
|---|---|
| Name | Rinaldo Alessandrini |
| Birth date | 1956 |
| Birth place | Rome, Italy |
| Occupation | Conductor, harpsichordist, fortepianist, composer |
| Years active | 1970s–present |
Rinaldo Alessandrini
Rinaldo Alessandrini is an Italian conductor, harpsichordist, and fortepianist known for his work in Baroque and early Classical repertoire, period performance, and historically informed interpretation. Born in Rome in 1956, he has led ensembles, premiered rediscovered works, and made influential recordings of composers associated with Venice, Naples, and Vienna. His career interweaves performances at major European institutions and collaborations with leading soloists and ensembles from the early music movement.
Alessandrini was born in Rome and studied keyboard and composition at conservatories influenced by traditions from Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia, teachers connected to lineages including Irene Selvo, Giorgio Federico Ghedini, Franco Ferrara-inspired pedagogy, and ensembles associated with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He trained on harpsichord and organ in contexts linked to Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ton Koopman, and the broader Dutch early music circle that includes performers associated with Academy of Ancient Music and Concentus Musicus Wien. His studies encompassed repertoire by Claudio Monteverdi, Domenico Scarlatti, Arcangelo Corelli, and Johann Sebastian Bach, and were informed by scholarship from Philippe Beaussant and editorial practices of Musicologists associated with institutions such as Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma and Istituto di Studi Romani.
Alessandrini founded and directs ensembles that have appeared at venues like La Fenice, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw, and festivals including Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Salzburger Festspiele, Edinburgh Festival, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi, and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He has conducted staged and concert performances of operas by Claudio Monteverdi, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi, Alessandro Scarlatti, and Domenico Cimarosa for houses such as Opéra National de Paris, Teatro Real, and Teatro La Fenice. Alessandrini has collaborated with conductors and directors including Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, William Christie, Pierre Boulez, Herbert von Karajan-era institutions, and stage directors linked to Peter Sellars and Robert Carsen. He has participated in historically informed projects with ensembles like Les Arts Florissants, Il Giardino Armonico, Ensemble Matheus, Academy of Ancient Music, and Concentus Musicus Wien.
Alessandrini’s discography includes cycles and rediscoveries released on labels such as Archiv Produktion, Deutsche Grammophon, OPUS 111, Naïve Records, Virgin Classics, EMI Classics, Sony Classical, and independent labels tied to early music distribution. Notable recordings cover works by Claudio Monteverdi (Vespro della Beata Vergine), Giovanni Gabrieli, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Domenico Scarlatti sonatas, George Frideric Handel operas and oratorios, and complete cantata cycles by Johann Sebastian Bach with ensembles and soloists drawn from the early music scene. His projects have been reviewed in publications such as Gramophone (magazine), The New York Times, The Guardian, and Le Monde, and featured in broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, RAI, and Deutschlandfunk.
Alessandrini has produced editions, arrangements, and completions for early repertoire, engaging with sources housed in archives like Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, and manuscripts catalogued in RISM. His editorial work involves reconstructions akin to projects undertaken by scholars associated with Urtext editions, Bärenreiter, Henle Verlag, and research methodologies from New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians contributors. He has arranged continuo realizations, reconstructed lost sections of cantatas and operas, and composed new continuo frameworks used in recordings and performances alongside musicologists from Università di Roma La Sapienza and Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia.
He is founder and director of the ensemble Concerto Italiano, formed to perform and record Italian Baroque repertoire with specialists from the early music community. With Concerto Italiano he has collaborated with singers and instrumentalists linked to Cecilia Bartoli, Philippe Jaroussky, Anne Sofie von Otter, Monica Groop, Andreas Scholl, Vittoria Yeo, Dominique Visse, Rachel Podger, Enrico Onofri, Gianluca Capuano, Ton Koopman, Mahan Esfahani, Skip Sempé, and continuo partners associated with Stefano Montanari and Francesco Corti. The ensemble has worked with directors, producers, and baroque specialists from institutions like Fondazione Teatro La Fenice, Fondazione Cini, and recording teams affiliated with Archivio Storico Ricordi.
Alessandrini’s approach emphasizes rhetorical projection, ornamentation practices, and tempo decisions informed by treatises from Giulio Caccini, Pier Francesco Tosi, Johann Joachim Quantz, Francesco Gasparini, and Giovanni Battista Doni. His performances employ period instruments or replicas built by makers in the tradition of Bartolomeo Cristofori-inspired keyboard construction, Ruckers-school harpsichords, and fortepianos modeled on Cristofori and Ferdinando Gagliano designs. He applies basso continuo realizations consistent with practices documented by Michael Praetorius and Giovanni Battista Martini, and his ornamentation aligns with sources studied by Gunnar Askeland, Arnold Dolmetsch, and editors from Institute of Early Music programs at institutions such as Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Alessandrini’s achievements have been recognized by awards and honors from institutions like Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Premio Franco Abbiati, Gramophone Awards nominations, and prizes from festivals including Festival dei Due Mondi and organizations such as Fondazione Cini. His recordings have received critical prizes from bodies associated with Diapason d'Or, Choc de Classica, and acknowledgments in annual lists of BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone (magazine).
Category:Italian conductors Category:Harpsichordists Category:1956 births Category:Living people