Délphine Galou, Contralto

Delphine Galou was born in Paris. Additionally to her studies of philosophy at the Sorbonne, she studied the piano and singing. In 2004, she was selected “Discovery of the Year” by the French Association for the Promotion of Young Artists ADAMI.

She started her career as a member of the ensemble of the “Jeunes Voix du Rhin”. She then decided to specialize in the baroque repertoire, collaborating with ensembles such as Balthasar Neumann Ensemble (Thomas Hengelbrock), I Barocchisti (Diego Fasolis), Accademia Bizantina (Ottavio Dantone), Collegium 1704 (Václav Luks), the Venice Baroque Orchestra (Andrea Marcon), Il Complesso Barocco (Alan Curtis), Les Siècles (François-Xavier Roth), Les Arts Florissants (Jonathan Cohen), Le Concert des Nations (Jordi Savall), Ensemble Matheus (Jean-Christophe Spinosi), Les Musiciens du Louvre (Marc Minkowski), Le Concert d’Astrée (Emmanuelle Haïm), Les Ambassadeurs (Alexis Kossenko) and Les Talens Lyriques (Christophe Rousset).

She has performed at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Angers Nantes Opéra, Opéra de Montpellier, Royal Opera House London, Theater St Gallen, Theater Basel, Handel Festival in Karlsruhe, Schwetzingen Festival, Staatsoper Berlin, Theater an der Wien and the Maggio Musicale in Firenze.

As a concert soloist, she is a regular guest of the Beaune Baroque Festival where she was acclaimed in Rinaldo and Alessandro by Handel, Semiramide by Porpora, Juditha triumphans and Orlando furioso by Vivaldi and, in 2013, in L’incoronazione di Dario (Vivaldi again). This season was highlighted by her US debut at the Lincoln Center in New York in Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo with Le Concert d’Astrée and Emmanuelle Haïm. Meanwhile she has also performed with Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble, Les Ambassadeurs and toured a recital program with Les Talens Lyriques (around the bliblical theme of Juditha triumphans).

During the 2015/16 season she sang Stabat Mater by Pergolesi with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala in Milano, Mass in b minor by Bach with the Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai di Torino, The Messiah by Handel in Basilea with La Cetra di Marconi, Belshazzar, Alcina and Johannes Passion with the Accademia Bizantina and Matthäuspassion with the Holland Baroque Society.

Among her recent engagements are productions of Orlando (Medoro) at Opernhaus in Zurich, L’Orfeo (La Musica) at Opéra de Lausanne. She received great acclaims in Belshazzar in Salzburg, Beaune and Bruges with the Accademia Bizantina, Juditha Triumphans in Bruxelles and London with the Venice Ba- roque Orchestra, as well as in concert with the Orchestra Haydn in Bolzano.

Her projects include L’incoronazione di Dario at Teatro Regio in Torino, Rinaldo (Goffredo) with the Kam- merorchester Basel, Giulio Cesare (Cornelia) during a tour with the Accademia Bizantina and L’Incorona- zione di Poppea (Ottone) in Zürich.

Her numerous discography includes the Saint John Passion by Bach with Marc Minkowski (Naïve), Vivaldi’s Teuzzone under Jordi Savall (Naïve) and Vivaldi’s Orlando 1714 under Federico Maria Sardelli (Naïve), Vivaldi’s L’incoronazione di Dario and Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle under Ottavio Dantone (Naïve), Steffani’s Niobe with Thomas Hengelbrock (DVD Opus Arte), Caldara’s La Concordia dei’ Pianeti under Andrea Marcon (Deutsche Grammophon) and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges with the Orchestre National de Lyon and Leonard Slatkin.

Monica Piccini, Soprano

Born in Reggio Emilia, Italy. After a degree in violin she started to study opera singing under Franca Mattiucci and Elena Kriatchko, obtaining a degree with honors.

She partitioned her vocal technic with masterclasses in Baroque repertoire with Claudio Cavina and Rossana Bertini, in Lied and vocal music of the 1900 under Eric Werba and Dorothy Dorow.

She did her debut on the stage with the parts of Musica and Euridice in a production of Monteverdi´s ORFEO at the Teatro Real in Madrid under Jordi Savall. It followed several projects as Valletto-Fortuna/INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA at Teatro Colon in Salamanca under Rinaldo Alessandrini, Amore/LA VIRTÙ DEGLI STRALI D´AMORE of Cavalli at Teatro Malibran in Venice under Fabio Biondi, Claudia/MASSIMO PUPPIENO of Scarlatti at Teatro Politeama in Palermo under Fabio Biondi, Argene/L´OLIMPIADE of Pergolesi at the Theater of Krakow under Ottavio Dantone, Minerva-Fortuna-Melanto/IL RITORNO DI ULISSE IN PATRIA of Monteverdi at Beaune Festival, Clori/CLORI, DORINO E AMORE of Händel with the Münchner Rundfunk Orchestra in Munich, Bellezza/IL TRIONFO DEL TEMPO E DEL DISINGANNO Händel at Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Vagaus/JUDITHA TRIUMPHANS of Vivaldi under Ottavio Dantone.

Furthermore, she sung already many sacral pieces as the KRÖNUNGSMESSE and C-MESSE of Mozart under Ottavio Dantone, STABAT MATER of Boccherini with the Ensemble 415 under Chiara Banchini and MESSA IN ANGUSTIIS of Haydn.

She is regularly working with important ensembles and orchestras among others: Concerto Italiano, Europa Galante, Al Aire Español under Eduardo Lopez-Banzo, Concerto romano, Concerto Palatino, El Concierto Español of Emilio Moreno, the Chamber-Orchestra of Lausanne, Münchner Rundfunk Orchestra, Orquestra barroca de la Universidad de Salamanca, Hespèrion XXI and La Capella Reial de Catalunya.

Monica Piccinini’s discography includes a CD recording of Monteverdi’s ORFEO (parts of La Musica and Ninfa) under the label Naïve, conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini, Porpora´s NOTTURNI PER I DEFUNTI with La Stagione Armonica, Melani´s MOTTETTI for Naïve Opus 111.

Future projects include a concert performance as Morgana/ALCINA at the Opéra Royal de Versailles with Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset, concerts with Concerto Italiano under Rinaldo Alessandrini in Bremen, Brüxelles, Metz, Sablé and Paris. With the Accademia Bizzantina under Ottavio Dantone she will performe in Bruges and Bremen.

Accademia Bizantina

Accademia Bizantina was founded in Ravenna in 1983 with the intention of “making music like a large quartet”. Then as now, the group is managed autonomously by its guardian members, guaranteeing the chamber music approach to their performances which has ever been their distinguishing feature.

A number of prominent personalities in the musical world supported the orchestra’s development and growth, among them Jorg Demus, Carlo Chiarappa, Riccardo Muti and Luciano Berio. Over the years they have also enjoyed the collaboration of many fine musicians, among them Stefano Montanari who was an integral part of the orchestra for over 20 years. This has allowed the ensemble, which plays on period instruments, to become ever more specialised in 17th, 18th and 19th-century repertoire. Gradually the orchestra developed a distinguished voice by adopting its own interpretative style based on a common language and shared performance practice, reflecting the noblest tradition of Italian chamber music.

In 1989 Ottavio Dantone joined the group as harpsichordist and in 1996 he was appointed musical and artistic director, guaranteeing the prestige and artistic quality of the ensemble. Under his expert guidance Accademia Bizantina has merged philological research and an aesthetic approach to the interpretation of music from the Baroque period. Dantone’s competence, imagination and sophistication have united with the enthusiasm and artistic empathy of each member of the group, giving their interpretations the depth which makes them one of the most prestigious ensembles on the international musical scene today.

In 1999 Accademia Bizantina performed their first staged opera, Giuseppe Sarti’s “Giulio Sabino”. The orchestra has gone on to specialise in the rediscovery and performance of Baroque operas, ranging from major works to operas which have never been performed in modern times.

The ensemble performs in concerts halls and festivals worldwide. Their many recordings, most notably for Decca, Harmonia Mundi and Naïve, have won numerous awards including the Diapason d’Or, Midem and a Grammy Music Award nomination for Purcell’s “O Solitude” with Andreas Scholl. Of particular significance are their collaborations with violinists Viktoria Mullova and Giuliano Carmignola and with countertenor Andreas Scholl with whom they have had major international tours and recording projects (for Onyx, Deutsche Grammophon, Harmonia Mundi and Decca).

Among the orchestra’s new productions scheduled for 2016 are Antonio Vivaldi’s “L’incoronazione di Dario”, Händel’s “Alcina” and “Belshazzar” and J.S. Bach’s The Art of Fugue.

• 2^nd appearance at Al Bustan International Festival of Music and the Performing Arts