BIOGRAPHY
The Accademia dell'Annunciata is a baroque orchestra, founded in 2009 in Abbiategrasso (MI). The renaissance jewel, the former convent Annunciata in Abbiategrasso, gives the orchestra not only its name, but also its home.
Through its many and varied experiences, the Accademia has developed a very clear identity. It specializes in baroque and pre-classical repertoire, performed with original period instruments, and combines this with the involvement of young musicians. Supported by senior, more experienced colleagues such as Carlo Lazzaroni and Marcello Scandell, these youths have an opportunity for training and professional development in an environment that is unique in Italy.
Over the years, under the direction of Riccardo Doni, the Accademia has developed a rich repertoire, which embraces a wide temporal and stylistic period, from the baroque of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi to the classicism of Mozart and early Beethoven. They also pay particular attention to composers who are rarely included in concert programs.
The orchestra has collaborated with soloists such as Enrico Onofri, Paolo Beschi, Evangelina Mascardi, Paolo Perrone, Luca Braga, Filippo Mineccia and Giuliano Carmignola. With Carmignola, the Accademia made the first modern recording of Felice Giardini's violin and orchestra concerts op.15.
The Accademia has also collaborated with bass Andrea Mastroni, with whom they recorded Handel's Arie, Overture and Concerti Grossi.
A vibrant new synergy has been generated with Giuliano Carmignola on the violin and Mario Brunello on the small cello based on the music of A. Vivaldi and J.S. Bach, with the aim of recording a series of concerts for Arcana.
In 2015, in cooperation with the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, in the evocative setting of the Isola Comacina, the Accademia brought to life an itinerant exhibition of Handel’s Alcina directed by Giacomo Agosti.
The Accademia dell'Annunciata carries out an intense recording activity that has earned the applause of specialized critics (International Italian Heritage Award 2013 for "La Milano dei Borromeo", to name just one). For MusicaViva, Egeamusic label it has published the "Battaglie e Tempeste", "Masonic Music in the 18th century", "An Italian in London", with Giuliano Carmignola and "Melancholia", inspired by the Handel project with Andrea Mastroni. "Sonar in Ottava" with Giuliano Carmignola and Mario Brunello is due for release in 2019.
In addition to organizing an annual concert season at its headquarters for the past several years, the Accademia is regularly invited to perform at various festivals in Italy and abroad and now has several hundred concerts to its credit.
Riccardo Doni
conductor
Born in Milan in 1965, he graduated in Organ and Composition for organ at the Conservatory “Arrigo Boito” in Parma with Maestro Lorenzo Ghielmi. Subsequently he graduated in Organ and Harpsichord and historical keyboards in the class of Jean Claude Zehnder at the “Schola Cantorum” in Basel.
In over 2000 concerts he performed as organist and harpsichordist, and he played for important concert seasons in Italy and abroad as an accompanist and as a soloist.
Since 1994 is stable member of the famous ensemble “Il Giardino Armonico” of Milan as harpsichordist and organist. With this ensemble he has performed in some of the most important concert halls in the world.
He is harpsichordist of the ensemble “Imaginarium”, established in 2002 by the violinist Enrico Onofri for the execution of Italian vocal and instrumental music of the ’600 and ‘700.
Since 2008 he plays with the violinist Giuliano Carmignola, with whom he has performed in some important European theaters.
From 1984 to 2009 he has been artistic director of the musical association “Musica Laudantes” in Milan and conductor of the vocal group with the same name.
From 1990 to 1996 he conducted the choir “Nuova Polifonica Ambrosiana” and the choir “Madrigalisti Ambrosiani” from its foundation up to to 1998. With those choirs he has performed in Italy and abroad.
Occasionally he collaborates with “The chamber musicians” and with the “Filarmonica” of the Scala Theater, “I Solisti di Pavia”, “ Accademia bizantina”, “I Pomeriggi Musicali”, and other prestigious chamber ensembles.
In 2009 he founded the musical association “Canone Inverso” of which he is artistic director.
Since 2010 he has been music director of the “Accademia dell’Annunciata”, a project dedicated to the formation of a youth ensemble directed to the baroque and classical performance practice.
He recorded a CD on the organ music of the Bach family and three volumes of organ music by J.Ludwig Krebs on important european historical organs.
He recorded for Decca, Teldec, Decca, Zig Zag, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Supraphon, Stradivarius, Naive, Amadeus, Sarx Records, Opus 111, Nichion, Passacaille and Arcana.
He has been teacher at the conservatories of Ferrara, Frosinone and Castelfranco Veneto.