Giovanni Antonini

Source: askonasholt.com

Born in Milan, Giovanni Antonini studied at the Civica Scuola di Musica and at the Centre de Musique Ancienne in Geneva. He is a founder member of the Baroque ensemble Il Giardino Armonico, which he has led since 1989. With this ensemble he has appeared as conductor and soloist on the recorder and Baroque

transverse flute in Europe, United States, Canada, South America, Australia, Japan and Malaysia. He has performed with many prestigious artists including Cecilia Bartoli, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Giuliano Carmignola, Isabelle Faust, Sol Gabetta, Sumi Jo, Viktoria Mullova, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Emmanuel Pahud and Giovanni Sollima. Renowned for his refined and innovative interpretation of the classical and baroque repertoire, Giovanni Antonini is also a regular guest with Berliner Philharmoniker, Concertgebouworkest, Tonhalle Orchester, Mozarteum Orchester, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, London

Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His opera productions have included Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto and Bellini’s Norma with Cecilia Bartoli at Salzburg Festival. In 2018 he conducted Orlando at Theater an der Wien and returned to Opernhaus Zurich for Idomeneo. In 2019 he conducted Guilio Cesare for La Scala, and returned there in 2021 for Cosi fan tutte and 2024 for L’Orontea. He also returned to Theater an der Wien in 2021 with Cavalieri’s Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo.

In the 2025/26 season, he conducts Le Nozze di Figaro at Liceu Barcelona and Pugnani’s Werther with Mozarteumorchester. He works with Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Oslo Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and returns to Bamberg Symphoniker and for two projects with the Czech Philharmonic alongside the Czech Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. Il Giardino Armonico are Ensemble in Residence at Wigmore Hall London with regular appearances throughout the

season. With Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini has recorded numerous CDs of instrumental works by Vivaldi, J.S. Bach (Brandenburg Concertos), Biber and Locke for Teldec. With Naïve he recorded Vivaldi’s opera Ottone in Villa, and for Decca he has recorded 2 volumes with Julia Lezhneva. With Alpha Classics (Outhere Music Group) he released various albums including La Morte della Ragione; exploring his interest in renaissance music through collections of sixteenth and seventeenth century instrumental music. With Kammerorchester Basel he has recorded the complete Beethoven Symphonies for Sony Classical and a disc

of flute concertos with Emmanuel Pahud entitled Revolution for Warner Classics. Giovanni Antonini is Artistic Director of the Haydn2032 project, created to realise a vision to record and perform with Il Giardino Armonico and Kammerorchester Basel the complete symphonies of Joseph Haydn by the 300th anniversary of the composer’s birth. A little over half way through the venture, the first 17 volumes have been released on the Alpha Classics label.