Fortepiano Ensemble (IT)
Fortepiano Ensemble is a new group founded in 2024 for concerts in Italy (Padua, Treviso, Modena) as part of various early music festivals. In recent years, each member of the ensemble has performed with I Barocchisti (Switzerland), Il Giardino Armonico (Italy), Accademia Bizantina (Italy), and Orchestra Barocca di Bologna (Italy), and has taken part in numerous festivals, including Trigonale, Innsbruck Alte Musik, Grandezze & Meraviglie, Musica in San Maurizio, Roma Barocco Festival, and with various other orchestras and early music ensembles performing on period instruments.
Michele Bolla is a renowned pianist and fortepiano player, as well as a professor at the Pollini Conservatory of Music in Padua. He graduated with full distinction from the Castelfranco Veneto Conservatory under the guidance of Francesco Bencivenga. He then furthered his studies with Mikhail Voskresensky, Lev Naumov, and Bruno Mezzena. He has won numerous prizes in national and international solo competitions. With the Quadro Veneto quartet, he received major awards at international chamber music competitions and has performed extensively in Italy and abroad. He collaborates with internationally acclaimed soloists and singers, with leading theatres in Italy, and with prominent orchestra conductors. He has dedicated himself to performance practice on historical pianos and has worked with some of the most respected specialists in the field, including Emilia Fadini and Malcolm Bilson. He has released several recordings for the Limen and Brilliant Classics labels, all of which have received excellent reviews in the international press. Facebook
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The Italian pianist Michele Bolla performs them on a McNulty fortepiano, built after an 1819 instrument by Conrad Graf. It is a sonorous, technically perfect instrument that gives Bolla great interpretative freedom. Each of the four sonatas requires a skilled performer, and Michele Bolla takes on this challenge with ease. He plays with great vitality and masters the technical difficulties without letting his playing become overly technical. / Der italienische Pianist Michele Bolla spielt sie auf einem McNulty Fortepiano, gebaut nach einem Conrad Graf-Instrument von 1819. Es ist ein sonores, technisch perfektes Instrument, das Bolla eine große Gestaltungsfreiheit gibt. Jede der vier Sonaten erfordert einen versierten Spieler, und Michele Bolla stellt sich dieser Herausforderung problemlos. Er spielt sehr lebendig und meistert die technischen Schwierigkeiten ohne sein Spiel zu technisch werden zu lassen.
(Remy Franck, Pizzicato, July 2019) -
Early Romanticism, remarkably well written and performed, with a beautiful progression of musical discourse and a completely impassioned interpretation. / Premier romantisme remarquablement écritet interprété, avec une belle progression du discours, et une interprétration totalment enflammeé.
(Piano Classics, Moscheles Complete Piano Sonatas.) -
…the pianist Michele Bolla performs here a 1819 fortepiano after Graf. His playing is solid: all in a good way. He easily handles the numerous obstacles that this music present.
(Scott Noriega, Fanfare Magazine, March/April 2021)
Paolo Faldi graduated in oboe, baroque oboe, and recorder. He specialized in baroque oboe at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. In 1988, he was principal oboist and recorder player in the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO). He is a founding member of the ensembles L’Astrèe, Tripla Concordia, Cantilena Antiqua, and the Baroque Orchestra of Bologna, with which he recorded CDs for the Tactus label. From 1989 to 2008, he performed with Hespèrion XX, La Capella Reial, and Le Concert des Nations under the direction of Jordi Savall. He has conducted Orchestra del Santo Spirito of Turin, La Stagione Armonica, the “VIVA” Choir from Brežice (Slovenia), and Accademia Montis Regalis, collaborating with various prestigious festivals in Italy and abroad. He has recorded for Astrée-Auvidis, Nuova Era, Symphonia, Stradivarius, Bongiovanni, Tactus, and Opus 111, with which he recorded the complete chamber concertos by Vivaldi with the Turin ensemble L’Astrèe. He teaches recorder at the “C. Pollini” Conservatory in Padua. Facebook
Luca Lucchetta trained at the “B. Marcello” Conservatory in Venice. He has collaborated with the most prestigious Italian opera-symphonic institutions (Teatro alla Scala, Teatro La Fenice, Arena di Verona) and with orchestras performing on historical instruments (La Chambre Philharmonique, Champs-Élysées, I Barocchisti, Le Concert des Nations). He has recorded for Arcophon/Rivo Alto (Divertimenti and Notturni by Mozart), Amadeus (Gran Partita and Mozart’s Serenades), Bottega Discantica (Telemann’s Concerto for Two Chalumeaux), Brilliant (Vivaldi), CPO (Clemenza di Tito), and Limen Classic (previously unpublished repertoire for three clarinets, with Eric Hoeprich). He is among the very few clarinetists in the world to have recorded Beethoven’s symphonies as principal clarinet both on modern instruments (Pilz/Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, conducted by Peter Maag) and on historical instruments (Naïve/La Chambre Philharmonique of Paris with Emmanuel Krivine and I Barocchisti under Diego Fasolis). He currently teaches at the Padua Conservatory.
Elisa Bognetti https://www.conservatorio.pr.it/docenti/elisa-bognetti/ is a horn professor at the “A. Boito” Conservatory in Parma. She has performed extensively throughout Europe, the USA, Russia, Japan, China, and Korea, appearing in prestigious concert halls such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. She has played under the baton of some of the world’s most renowned conductors, including Lorin Maazel, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Zubin Mehta, and Riccardo Chailly. On period instruments, she performs with ensembles such as Concerto Köln, Accademia Bizantina, Orchestra Barocca della Svizzera Italiana, Gusto Barocco, La Cetra Barockorchester, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, and Il Pomo d’Oro. Elisa studied horn under Guido Corti, Markus Maskuniitty, and Thomas Hauschild, and obtained her degrees in both Italy and Germany. Facebook
Stefano Sopranzi was born in 1986. He graduated with distinction in bassoon from the State Conservatory of Music “Francesco Venezze” in Rovigo (Italy), studying with Professor Alberto Guerra. In 2012, he obtained a “Master of Arts in Musical Interpretation – Specialised Practice of Historical Instruments (Classical and Baroque Bassoon)” from the Geneva Conservatory. He has performed with Geneva Camerata (Geneva, Switzerland), Ensemble Contrechamps (Geneva, Switzerland), Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto (Padua, Italy), and Orchestra San Marco (Pordenone, Italy). In 2009, he won first prize with Ensemble Dulcis in Fundo at the inaugural ERTA Italia Competition for chamber music with recorders. He has collaborated with renowned ensembles such as Accademia Bizantina, Ensemble Seicentonovecento, San Marco Baroque Orchestra, the Theresia Youth Baroque Orchestra (TYBO), and Il Giardino Armonico. He has appeared at prestigious international festivals including the Salzburg Festspiele, Misteria Paschalia (Poland), Budapest International Festival, and Haydn Festspiele (Austria).
