The ensemble/ Il gruppo

Les amies

Giovanna, Carla, Elena, Mara and Chiara have known each other for a long time. Giovanna has been playing with Chiara and Elena since the 90s: Giovanna regularly performs with Chiara in duo and she plays together with Elena in various Baroque groups and orchestras. Giovanna met also Mara in the 90s. Mara, Carla, Elena and Giovanna played together in the Innsbrucker Festwochen Orchestra. Elena and Mara play together in various ensembles.

Mara has been researching on improvisation since many years; she and Giovanna thought it could be fantastic to collaborate together in a project. Chiara and Giovanna were looking for a good project to record. Carla studied improvisation on the cello at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where also Giovanna had studied, many years before.

Elena also is very interested in historical improvisation and was very happy to create her own variations!/

Giovanna, Carla, Elena, Mara e Chiara si conoscono da molto tempo. Giovanna suona con Chiara ed Elena dagli anni '90: Giovanna si esibisce regolarmente con Chiara in duo e suona insieme ad Elena in vari gruppi e orchestre barocche. Giovanna ha incontrato anche Mara negli anni '90. Mara, Carla, Elena e Giovanna hanno suonato insieme nell'Orchestra delle Festwochen di Innsbruck. Elena e Mara suonano insieme in vari ensemble.

Mara ricerca sull'improvvisazione da molti anni; lei e Giovanna hanno pensato che sarebbe stato fantastico collaborare insieme ad un progetto. Chiara e Giovanna cercavano un bel progetto da registrare. Carla ha studiato improvvisazione al violoncello presso la Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, dove aveva studiato anche Giovanna, molti anni prima.

Elena è anche molto interessata all'improvvisazione storica ed è stata molto felice di creare le sue variazioni!/

Biographies/Biografie

Giovanna Barbati

Giovanna Barbati is an Italian cellist and viola da gamba player, whose repertoire extends from early to contemporary music and who has a special interest in improvisation. She appears frequently as a soloist, she plays her own music and has given the first performance of a number of works for solo cello. As a principal cellist, she has played with some of most renown Baroque orchestras in Europe. She is professor of viola da gamba at the Conservatory of L’Aquila, and holds workshops in historical improvisation. She has been working for many years to reconstruct the historical didactic of improvisation for cello and viola da gamba; her articles and critical editions have been published by Brepols, Sedm, HH, Studi Musicali.
She took part in numerous recordings, which won numerous awards, garnering considerable personal critical acclaim.

Carla Rovirosa Guals

After completing her bachelor degree in Barcelona with Amparo Lacruz, Carla Rovirosa started her training in baroque cello in 2014 at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Christophe Coin and Petr Skalka. Carla is active with many orchestras around Europe including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, La Cetra Barockorchester, Accademia Barocca Lucernensis, Nordic Baroque Orchestra and Academia Montis Regalis, among others.

She has performed with outstanding musicians such as Amandine Beyer, Andrea Marcon, Sir Simon Rattle or Andreas Bötticher and taken part in festivals including Innsbrucker Alte Musik Festival, Ryedale Festival in England and Barokkfest in Trondheim.

Elena Bianchi

Elena Bianchi graduated with honours in baroque bassoon with L. Alpert at the Conservatoire Populaire de Musique, Geneva and with A. Grazzi at the Civica Scuola di Musica, Milan. She also graduated in recorder and has a degree in musicology from the University of
Bologna. She performs in Italy and abroad with various European ensembles, such as Concerto Koeln, Le Concert de Nations, Ensemble Aurora. She has participated in recordings for radio and various labels, including Deutsche Grammophon, Glossa and Brilliant Classics. She teaches historical bassoon at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt; previously she has taught at the Conservatory of Vicenza, and at the Haute École de
Musique in Geneva.

Mara Galassi

Mara Galassi graduated from the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano and the Pesaro Conservatory of Music with honours. She studied pedal harp with Luciana Chierici, David Watkins, and Emmy Huerlimann, performance practice with David Collyer and Patrick
O’Brien and musicology with Michael Morrow. She has served as principal harpist for the Opera Houses of Genova, Florence and Palermo. She developed her activities as soloist and as a member of some of the most famous early music Ensembles in Europe. As
musicologist she has done extensive research in the field of historical harps. She has recorded many Cds for various labels, among them Il viaggio di Lucrezia, (Cannes Award and Choc de la Musique). In Duo with the dancer Deda Cristina Colonna she joined the film “Voluptas dolendi” (Marco Fodella Foundation) and the program “Alltid densamme” on Queen Christine of Sweden. She recently founded the “Ensemble de harpes Sebastièn Erard”. She teaches historical harps and chamber music at the Civica Scuola di Musica Milan, and at the ESMUC in Barcelona, and has given many
performance practice masterclasses abroad.

Chiara Tiboni

Chiara Tiboni is professor of harpsichord and historical keyboards at the Conservatory in Milan. President and artistic director of the musical association L’Architasto since 2008, she has organized the L'Architasto International Festival, with Gustav Leonhardt as honorary president. She has been also artistic director of the Frescobaldi Festival in Rome. She prepared the continuo realization
of Gaetano Francone’s 10 Passagagli (HH, 2021) and published ‘Il basso continuo reso facile’ together with Francesco Maschio (Volonté & co., 2022). She studied harpsichord with Kenneth Gilbert at the Chigiana Academy in Siena and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg,
where she obtained a master's degree. She later specialized in maestro al cembalo at the S. Cecilia Conservatory, Rome. She enjoys an international career, and performs as a harpsichord duo with Enrico Baiano. She has recorded for Brilliant Classics a CD with Johann Baptist Vanhal’s works for clarinet and harpsichord (2022); and La Serva Padrona (2018). She also made several recordings for RAI and Radio Vaticana.