Ansambl Salomon Rosi

Biography

The Ensemble Salomone Rossi, founded by Lydia Cevidalli in 1991, have to their credit performances in Italy and abroad: among the most important, in Belgium at the Concertgebouw of Bruges and the Castle of Chimay, in Spain at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes of Madrid, with live broadcasting for the Spanish National Radio and in the United States at the Montclair State University. In 2009, the Ensemble recorded the CD Jewish Baroque Music for Concerto Classics, which obtained excellent reviews on national Italian print, such as Amadeus, Suonare News and IlSole24ore, as well as presentations on various Italian national and private radio stations, including Radio3suite and Piazzaverdi of Radio3. In 2012 and 2018, the CD was re-printed. In recent years the Ensemble has recorded the music for the BBC documentary, The Story of the Jews, has played in Rome for the Quirinale Concerts of Radio3, with live broadcast of the concert on the Italian National Radio3, in Cremona, at the Museum of Instruments for the review “Il violinist sul tetto“, in Venice at the Ugo and Olda Levi Foundation, in Bergamo in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, in Parma at the Sala Maria Luigia of the Palatina Library, in Ascona (Switzerland), in Trieste, in Istanbul.

In 2018 the Ensemble recorded the Cd “Salmi e Sonate di Benedetto Marcello”, released by Concerto Classics; the CD was accepted with much success by the national Italian print and broadcasted by well-known public and private national radio programs. The second CD will be released in spring 2020.

Marta Fumagalli (mezzo-soprano) graduated in modern literature. At the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Como (Italy) she graduated in solo singing in the class of Cristina Rubin (soprano). She is currently continuing her training with the countertenor Roberto Balconi. As a soloist and interpreter specialising in the Baroque repertoire, she performs in Italy and abroad with leading ensembles in the field.

Issei Watanabe, born into a family of artists, graduated in cello in 2012 and three years later (2015) obtained a second-level academic diploma in Baroque cello at the Guido Cantelli Conservatory in Novara (Italy). He continued his studies at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole (Italy) with Bettina Hoffmann and at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels (Belgium) with Alain Gervreau. As a soloist he works with many chamber and orchestral ensembles.

Diego Cantalupi graduated in guitar with Maurizio Storti. Devoting himself to the study of Renaissance and Baroque performance, he took lute courses in Milan with Paul Beier and at the Parma Conservatory with Tiziano Bagnati and Andrea Damiani. He graduated in musicology at the School of Palaeography and Musical Philology with a thesis on theory as a tool for realising figured bass in Italy. He has also researched the work of Italian and German composers, with attention to the copies and editions of their music. As a musicologist he works with many ensembles, finding unpublished musical sources and preparing critical editions.

Giovanni Togni graduated in harpsichord, piano and choral conducting, with distinction in all three. At the same time he completed studies in composition and organ. He began his study of the harpsichord in the classes of Laura Alvini. He won Italian (Bologna, 1993) and European (EUBO selection, Paris, 1991) competitions. He has worked with many ensembles, among them Ensemble Concerto, Il Complesso Barocco, Accademia Bizantina, Ensemble Aurora, Ensemble Zefiro, the European Union Baroque Orchestra, the RAI Orchestra of Rome and the Orchestra Mozart (with the conductor Claudio Abbado). He has also worked extensively with opera foundations and major opera houses such as the Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele in Palermo (Italy) and the Opéra de Monte-Carlo (Monaco). As a soloist and ensemble member he has played (piano, harpsichord) at prestigious Italian and European festivals. Besides recordings for European television, he has recorded for many labels, including Glossa, Brilliant, Amadeus, Animus Christophori, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, EMI-Virgin and Deutsche Grammophon (archive production). He has taught, mentored and served on juries at many institutions, including the Giorgio Cini Foundation (Venice) and the International Early Music Competition in Urbino (Italy). He taught harpsichord and the history of the piano at the conservatories of Cagliari (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Conservatory, Italy) and Milan. He is currently head of department and professor at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Como (Italy).