Bach festival at Advent

Conductor, harpsichordist and organist Rinaldo Alessandrini is considered one of the leading experts in the field of historically informed performance practice, the main focus of his repertoire being on works by Monteverdi, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Rossini. He is founder and director of Concerto Italiano with which he has published numerous award-winning recordings.

Rinaldo Alessandrini has conducted all renowned international orchestras and has performed at the most prestigious opera houses and festivals. Highlights were for instance his tours to China and Japan, as well as his concertante performance of Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea at New York Carnegie Hall. Further engagements brought him amongst others to the Chamber Orchestra Basel, the Freiburg Barock Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and to various other European and American orchestras.

Noteworthy are also The Coronation of Poppea at La Scala di Milano, Don Giovanni in Liège, Haendel’s Orlando at Semperoper Dresden, The Marriage of Figaro and Orfeo ed Euridice in Oslo as well as Mozart’s Zaide and La finta semplice with the Munich Rundfunkorchester.

He will make his debut with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin in December 2021.

Rinaldo Alessandrini is artistic director of the Italian Purtimiro-Festival. In 2003 he was appointed “Chevalier dans l’ordre des Artes et des Lettres” by the French Minister of Culture. He is Academic of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana.

The Norwegian soprano Siri Karoline Thornhill is a sought-after artist in her field and at home on international stages.

She gives concerts with, among others. with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, I Barocchisti, Kammerorchester Basel, Orchestra La Scintilla Zürich, La Petite Bande, Freiburger Barockorchester, Staatskapelle Halle, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Concertgebouw Kamerorkest, Opéra National de Bordeaux, the Freitagsakademie Bern, Bachakademie Stuttgart and Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and with the conductors Iván Fischer, Ton Koopman, Diego Fasolis, Philippe Herreweghe, Christoph Coin, Sigiswald Kuijken, Gijs Leenars, Daniel Reuss, Michi Gaigg, Ottavio Dantone, Riccardo Minasi, Fabio Biondi and Rinaldo Alessandrini.

Opera and festival appearances have taken her to the Komische Oper Berlin, the opera houses of Leipzig, Halle, Kristiansand and Beaune, the Händelfestspiele Göttingen, Rheingau Musik Festival, Haydnfestival Eisenstadt, Beethovenfest Bonn, Bachfest Leipzig, Printemps des Arts de Monte Carlo, the Early Music Festivals in Bruges and Utrecht, Rencontres musicales de Vézelay, Sydney Festival and the Kennedy Center Washington.

An extensive discography documents the artist’s versatility.

Since his success at the ARD International Music Competition in 1986 Reinhold Friedrich has been a prolific performer on major stages around the world such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Berlin Philharmonie. As a soloist, Reinhold Friedrich performs both on modern and historic keyed trumpet with renowned ensembles such as the Bamberger and Wiener Symphoniker, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berliner Barock Solisten and the Cappella Andrea Barca; conducted amongst others by Sir András Schiff, Reinhard Goebel, Sir Neville Marriner, Christopher Hogwood, Semyon Bychkov, Michael Gielen, Adam Fischer and Vladimir Fedossejev.

From 1983 to 1999 Reinhold Friedrich held the position of solo trumpeter at the Radio Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt. He is permanent solo trumpeter of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, now Riccardo Chailly, and artistic director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra Brass Ensemble. Reinhold Friedrich is a professor of trumpet at Karlsruhe University of Music, honorary professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid as well as a sought-after lecturer for master classes all over the world.

In the course of his involvement with contemporary compositions, he premiered a large number of significant works including pieces by Wolfgang Rihm, Hans Werner Henze, Luciano Berio, Sir Peter Maxwell Davis and Peter Eötvös. Numerous CD recordings on labels such as DG, Capriccio, MDG and Sony, of which many were honoured with renowned awards (Echo Klassik) document his multifaceted work.

Upcoming concerts will lead him through all of Europe, amongst others with Nuria Rial to the Handel Festival in Halle and to the Elbphilharmonie and furthermore to Japan, Sibiria, Armenia and Australia.