Friday, September 19

Cathedral, 8:00 p.m.

Il Giardino Armonico

Avi Avital, mandolin

Giovanni Antonini, conductor and artistic leadership

Festive Opening

Amando Ivančić 
Symphony No. 8 in G major 
Allegro
Andante
Presto

Giovanni Paisiello 
Concerto for mandolin, strings and basso continuo in E flat major, R 8.14 
Allegro Maestoso
Larghetto grazioso
Allegretto

Antonio Vivaldi 
L’estro armonico op.3 - Concerto for four violins, cello, strings and basso continuo No. 10 in B minor, RV 580 
Allegro
Largo
Allegro

Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for harpsichord, strings and basso continuo in D minor (arr. for mandolin and recorder), BWV1052
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro

Antonio Vivaldi 
Concerto for mandolin, strings and basso continuo  in C major, RV 425
Allegro
Largo
Allegro

Concerto for flautino, strings and basso continuo in D major Il Gardellino, RV 428 
Allegro
[Largo] 
Allegro

Antonio Vivaldi 
Concerto for violin, strings and basso continuo No. 5 in E-flat major, La Tempesta di Mare, RV 253
Presto
Largo
Presto

Founded in 1985, Il Giardino Armonico is recognized as one of the world’s leading ensembles specializing in historically informed performances of 17th- and 18th-century music.
Under the artistic direction of Giovanni Antonini, the ensemble has become a benchmark for late Baroque and early Classical repertoire performed on period instruments. Renowned for its energetic, virtuosic, and stylistically informed interpretations, Il Giardino Armonico has appeared at major festivals worldwide and collaborated with distinguished artists such as Cecilia Bartoli, Isabelle Faust, Bernarda Fink, Julia Lezhneva, Avi Avital, and Patricia Kopatchinskaja. The ensemble’s acclaimed discography includes award-winning recordings for labels such as Teldec Classics, Decca/L’Oiseau-Lyre, Decca, Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, and Alpha Classics. Their projects have explored the music of Vivaldi, Händel, Locatelli, and Mozart (notably the violin concertos), and they are currently engaged in the ambitious Haydn2032 project, recording the complete symphonies of Joseph Haydn (Alpha Classics) alongside a series of thematic concert programs. Il Giardino Armonico’s recordings have received the highest international distinctions in classical music, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Diapason d’Or, Choc de Classica, Echo Klassik, Opus Klassik, and many others.

Avi Avital is the first mandolinist ever to be nominated for a Grammy Award in classical music and a key figure in the modern revival of the mandolin. His virtuosic and charismatic interpretations have brought him to the world’s most prestigious concert halls — including Cadogan Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Philharmonie Berlin, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Aula Magna Sapienza in Rome, Amici della Musica in Florence, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, City Hall in Hong Kong, Orchestra Hall in Minnesota, and Herbst Hall in San Francisco — and to major international festivals such as Aspen, Salzburg, Hollywood Bowl, Tanglewood, Ravenna, MISA Shanghai, Cheltenham, Verbier, Lucerne, Bad Kissingen, Rheingau Musik Festival, Gstaad, and Tsinandali. He regularly performs with leading orchestras including the Minnesota Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Freiburg Barockorchester, Philharmonia Baroque, Venice Baroque, Il Pomo d’Oro, as well as the orchestras of Chicago, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and the RAI National Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Alan Gilbert, Giovanni Antonini, Kent Nagano, Robert Spano, Osmo Vänskä, Yutaka Sado, Nicholas McGegan, Omer Meir Wellber, Jonathan Cohen, and Ton Koopman. In 2023, Avital launched his own project, the Between Worlds Ensemble, based at Berlin’s Boulez Saal, with concerts in Bucharest, Warsaw, Hamburg, Ludwigshafen, and Antwerp. The ensemble explores diverse musical worlds by blending genres, cultures, and traditions, with a focus on regions such as the Iberian Peninsula, the Black Sea, and Southern Italy. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, he has released numerous acclaimed albums, including Concertos (2024) and The Art of the Mandolin (2020). Avital has commissioned over one hundred new works for the mandolin, continuously expanding the repertoire and the expressive possibilities of his instrument.

Born in Milan, Giovanni Antonini studied at the Civica Scuola di Musica and 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 the ensemble he has appeared as both conductor and soloist on the recorder and Baroque transverse flute, performing throughou Europe, the United States, Canada, South America, Australia, Japan and Malaysia. He also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kammerorchester Basel. He has performed with many distinguished 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 a regular guest with major orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Concertgebouworkest, Tonhalle Orchester, Mozarteum Orchester, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, London Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is also active in opera, having conducted productions at La Scala, the Salzburg Festival, the Zurich Opera House, and the Theater an der Wien. His extensive discography includes award-winning recordings for Teldec, Decca, Naïve, Alpha Classics, Sony, and Warner. He is the Artistic Director of the Haydn2032 project, an ambitious undertaking to perform and record the complete symphonies of Joseph Haydn by the 300th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 2032.