Astronio

Claudio Astronio is an eclectic musician and active as a harpsichordist, organist and conductor. Currently, he mainly conducts his early instruments ensemble “Harmonices Mundi”, which performs on a regular basis at the most prestigious festivals in Europe, USA, Japan, Mexico and Canada. He has worked with musicians such as Emma Kirkby, Max Van Egmond, Dan Laurin, Gemma Bertagnolli, Susanne Ryden, Yuri Bashmet and Gustav Leonhardt, and he has participated in numerous radio and television broadcasts all over the world. Several of his harpsichord and organ recordings have received many international awards such as Musica, CD Classica, Amadeus, Musica, Classic Voice, Alte Musik Aktuelle, Diapason (Diapason d’Or 2003), Repertoire, Le monde de la musique (“Choc”, July 2001), El Paìs, Ritmo, Diverdi, Goldberg , Continuo and Fanfare and Gramophone. In 2017 Brilliant Classics published the world premiere recording of the complete keyboard works by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, which has been honored with the many awards including CD of the month and CD of the year distinctions in the USA. He has been conductor of Theresia Orchestra, performing classic and pre-romantic symphonic repertoire with period instruments. Among his musical interests are also Jazz and pop music; the crossover CD “Coplas a lo divino”, between early music and improvisation and with Maria Pia de Vito, Michel Godard and Paolo Fresu was released recently.

Claudio Astronio made his cinema debut as the main character of the movie “La Corda spezzata – life and works of Alessandro Stradella” directed by Francesco Leprino, and as a conductor in the movie “Zoroastro: io, Giacomo Casanova” with Galatea Ranzi directed by Gianni di Capua.

He held masterclasses in Tokyo, Oberlin Conservatoire, Mexico City University and other Academies in Europe, USA, Japan and as a guest teacher at the Royal College of Music in London. He is member of the Doctorate Commission Board at Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and teaches harpsichord, historical keyboards and chamber music at the Conservatorio “A.Scontrino” in Trapani.

Corti

Harpsichordist and conductor Francesco Corti was born in Arezzo, Italy, in a musical family in 1984. He studied organ in Perugia, then harpsichord in Geneva and in Amsterdam. He was awarded at the International “Johann Sebastian Bach” Competition in Leipzig (2006) and at the Bruges Harpsichord Competition (2007). As a soloist and conductor, he has appeared […]
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Harpsichordist and conductor Francesco Corti was born in Arezzo, Italy, in a musical family in 1984. He studied organ in Perugia, then harpsichord in Geneva and in Amsterdam.

He was awarded at the International “Johann Sebastian Bach” Competition in Leipzig (2006) and at the Bruges Harpsichord Competition (2007).

As a soloist and conductor, he has appeared in recitals and concerts all over Europe, in the USA and Canada, in Latin America, in Asia and in New Zealand. He has been invited by festivals such as Mozart Woche and the Salzburger Festpiele, Musikfest Berlin, BachFest Leipzig, MusikFest Bremen, Utrecht Early Music Festival, Festival Radio France Montpellier. He has performed in halls such as Salle Pleyel and Thêatre des Champs Elysées (Paris), Bozar (Bruxelles), Konzerthaus (Vienna), Philharmonie (Berlin and Hamburg), Mozarteum and Haus für Mozart (Salzburg) and Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Teatro Real (Madrid), Palau de la Música Catalana (Barecelona).

He’s a member of Les Musiciens du Louvre (Minkowski), Zefiro (Bernardini), the Bach Collegium Japan (Suzuki), Les Talens Lyriques (Rousset) and Le Concert des Nations (Savall).

Since 2018 he is principal guest conductor of il Pomo d’Oro. Among other projects with this ensemble, he has conducted European tours of Händel’s Orlando, Radamisto and Tolomeo. His collaboration with Pomo d’Oro include numerous recordings. He is invited to lead the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Kammerorchester Basel, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Tafelmusik, Freiburger Barockorchester, B’Rock and the Nederlandse Bachvereniging. In 2021 he has conducted a new production of Händel’s Agrippina at the Royal Theater in Drottningholm (Stockholm, Sweden) and Monteverdi’s Combattimento in Cremona and Reggio Emilia (Italy). In 2022, he has conducted “Un Moto di Gioia. Mozart Concert Arias” staged by A. T. de Keersmaeker in Gent and Antwerpen (Belgium).

Starting January 2023, he will be musical director at the Drottningholm Royal Court Theater, where he will conduct a new production of Purcell’s Fairy Queen in August 2023.

His solo recordings include a CD of Louis Couperin Suites, the Partitas by J. S. Bach, Haydn Sonatas, the two piano quartets and the piano concerto K. 488 by Mozart, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solemnelle. Pentatone has recently published the first three volumes of Bach’s harpsichord concertos and Händel’s Apollo e Dafne with il Pomo d’Oro. His solo recordings (Arcana) “Bach: Little Books” and “Händel: Winged Hands” have received multiple awards and have been acclaimed by the international press. “Händel: Winged Hands” has been awarded a prestigious Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2022. His last discographic project, dedicated to G. Frescobaldi, has been published in June 2023.

He has taught in masterclasses all over Europe, in Latin America and in Asia. Since September 2016, he is professor of harpsichord at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.