Fabio Salamida

With this second contribution to the Vivaldi Edition, Fabio Biondi and his ensemble Europa Galante sign here the recording of the twentieth opera of the collection - a pasticcio in which Vivaldi ‘recycles’ hit tunes from the ‘World of Warcraft’ operas of his contemporaries.

Newly signed to the naïve label, violinist Fabio Biondi, the celebrated founder and director of Europa Galante, here presents his interpretation of one of the major peaks of the solo violin repertoire: the Sonatas and Partitas of J. S. Bach.

Le sicilien a plus d’une corde à son archet. Violoniste, soliste précoce et chef d’orchestre, Fabio Biondi est une véritable star du violon baroque. Après une formation classique dès son enfance, il se dirige rapidement vers les répertoires anciens. Il enchaîne ses premiers concerts en tant que soliste. Agé seulement de seize ans, le jeune violoniste est invité à jouer en soliste les concertos de Bach à la Musikvereine. Très attiré par le violon baroque, il collabore alors avec les prestigieuses formations de Marc Minkowski, Philippe Herreweghe, Gérard Lesne ou encore Jordi Savall. Il créé d’abord le Quatuor Stendhal en 1981, devient professeur au Conservatoire de Parme et en 1990, Biondi créé son propre orchestre qu’il dirige de son violon. L’Europa Galante composé d’une quinzaine de musiciens révolutionne l’approche de la musique baroque en s’attachant toujours à la quintessence de l’œuvre. Si Vivaldi est le cœur de ses recherches et interprétations, le violoniste a pour ambition de faire revivre l’ensemble du répertoire italien baroque : Scarlatti, Tartini, Caldara, et bien d’autres. Son ensemble aux interprétations toujours dynamiques est présent dans de prestigieuses salles sur tous les continents. Il acquiert une réputation internationale et est appelé à diriger de nombreux orchestres parmi lesquels l’Opéra de Nice, l’Orchestre de chambre de Zurich ou encore le Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Trente ans après un premier album dédié à Locatelli (1995), Fabio Biondi et ses amis d'Europa Galante proposent un visage plus intrigant de ce compositeur originaire de Bergame, et disciple de Corelli. À la croisée du concerto grosso et de la sinfonia d'opéra, les six Introduttioni teatrali s’apparentent à de petites scènes dramatiques, subtiles et troublantes.

Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante expand the Vivaldi edition with the eleventh volume of violin concertos bearing the name of one of the most famous interpreters of the early eighteenth century: Anna Maria. Hailed as a "child prodigy" and outstanding artist of the Ospedale della Pietà, where Vivaldi taught for forty years, Anna Maria was an accomplished violinist, but also mastered the viola d'amore and theorbo, as well as the harpsichord, cello, lute, and mandolin. Her reputation spread throughout Europe, and we know that Vivaldi dedicated at least twenty-four concertos to her.

“Spezzatino Porcino” is the new album by Fabio Fabio, set to be released on September 13th. An album that could be defined as progressive trip-hop, in which Marco Foresta and Mattia Ricco wander between electronic sounds, tribalism, slow rhythms, and fragments of random moments from Rai Radio Tre, along with the sounds of the Canavese woods, transforming walks into explorations of a mysterious tropical jungle: a provincial man transforms into a man of the world.

Composer Fabio Frizzi is best known for his eerie scores for European horror movies. A frequent collaborator with Italian horror icon Lucio Fulci from the '70s into the '90s on films such as Contraband, The Beyond, and A Cat in the Brain, his music often used analog synthesizers, with their fuzzy sound adding a layer of creepiness to his downbeat melodies. Still incorporating elements of electronic, classical, and rock music into his scores with help from vintage instruments, Frizzi went on to compose music for projects including TV's Il Capitano (2005), House of Forbidden Secrets (2013), and Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (2018).

Fabio Bonizzoni: Performing the complete sonatas for violin and harpsichord is like embarking on a long hike; heavy, difficult, sometimes dangerous.

The pieces from this disc come mainly from two collections: th 12th century “Troparium de Catania” conserved in the National Library of Madrid (ms. 19421) transcribed by David Hiley, and the “Corpus of Sicilian Folk Music” (Palermo, 1957) wich contains pieces collected directly from the peaple by Alberto Favara about a century ago.