Ensemble Ricercare Antico With Tenor Riccardo Pisani Performs Caccini Program In The 1607 Library Of The House Of The Redeemer

Tenor Riccardo Pisani
with Ensemble Ricercare Antico
Serena Bellini, recorders
Giovanni Bellini, archlute
Matteo Coticoni, violone
Francesco Tomasi, theorbo, baroque guitar, and artistic direction

Giulio Il Romano
A concert for Caccini (1551 - 1618)

From Palazzo Bardi, where the Florentine Camerata met and conjured the new form of opera, where this program was previously presented on the Salon/Sanctuary Florence series, a commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Giulio Caccini, founding member of the Camerata and one of the first composers of opera, comes to New York, performed by a Roman and Florentine ensemble.

Ensemble Ricercare Antico

The ensemble takes its name from the diffused compositional process of the sixteenth century which flourished throughout the 1500s and reached its apogee in the works of G. Frescobaldi (1583-1643) before merging into the genre of the Fuga.

The group, founded by Serena Bellini (recorders) and Francesco Tomasi (theorbo, lute, and baroque guitar) is a collective of various musicians and singers directed by Francesco Tomasi. Since 2007 the members of Ricercare Antico have been constantly engaged in an intense concert activity in Italy and Europe with the most prestigious ensembles of ancient music including: "Concerto Italiano", the "Freiburger Barockorchester", "Cappella Mediterranea", "Auser Musici", "L'Estravagante", "Arte Musica", "La Venexiana", "Pera Ensemble."

Ricercare Antico is dedicated to the performance of previously unheard repertoire from the transitional period between the Renaissance and Baroque. Among the future projects, a monographic program on G.G. Kapsberger entitled "Il tedesco della tiorba" and another one focused on the early compositions by B. Marini.

Born in Rome, tenor Riccardo Pisani graduated with honors in Renaissance and Baroque singing from the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome where he studied with Sara Mingardo. In 2000?2003 he was a puer cantor of the Cappella Musicale Pontificia "Sistina" and he began his vocal studies with Claudia Nizza. He participated in masterclasses and workshops with Victor Torres, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Furio Zanasi, Alfredo Bernardini, Alessandro Quarta.

In 2012 he was awarded a special prize "Province of Rome" at the International Competition of Sacred Music.

Riccardo has sung with renowned groups such as La Venexiana (Claudio Cavina), Concerto Romano (Alessandro Quarta), Concerto Italiano (Rinaldo Alessandrini), Cappella Mediterranea (Leonardo García Alarcón), Coro RSI (Diego Fasolis), Cantar Lontano (Marco Mencoboni), Mala Punica, Arte Musica, La Fonte Musica, Festina Lente, l'Armonia degli Affetti, De Labyrintho, Il Canto di Orfeo and with conductors such as Jonathan Webb, René Jacobs, Carlo Ipata, Pedro Memelsdorff and Francesco Cera.

He recorded for Glossa, Outhere Music, Ambronay Éditions, Bottega Discantica, Armonia Universal, Melos Antiqua and Dynamic and for the radios Vatican Radio, Deutschlandfunk and ORF.
He performed at prestigious festivals including: Utrecht Early Music Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Festival dei Due Mondi, Resonanzen at Wiener Konzerthaus, DeSingel Antwerpen, Festival d'Ambronay, Sagra Musicale Umbra, Misteria Paschalia in Krakow, Urbino Musica Antica, Sagra Musicale Malatestiana, Festival Van Vlandeeren, Festival Monteverdi Vivaldi, Società del Quartetto of Vicenza, Rheinvokal, MA Festival Bruges, etc.

Recent highlights include: Vespro della Beata Vergine by Monteverdi with Concerto Italiano and Rinaldo Alessandrini, the title role of Ulisse in Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria by Monteverdi with La Venexiana; the role of Pastore in La Dafne by Marco da Gagliano with Cappella Mediterranea; tenor in Missa in C minor K 427 by Mozart; recital at Philarmonie of Kiev; the role of Evangelist in Brockes Passion by Telemann with Silete Venti!; role of the Sailor in Dido and Æneas by Purcell at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma; role of Jonas and Dives in Jonas and Dives Malus by Carissimi; the roles of Mercurio (Calisto) and Asdrubale (Scipione l'Africano) Francesco Cavalli's operas for the presentation of the critical edition by Barenreiter at the International Congress of Musicology 2012 at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome; role of Apollo in in Monteverdi's Orfeo with Ambronay Baroque Academy conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón. The tour included performances in theaters such as the Bozar in Brussels, Opéra de Reims, the TAP of Poitiers, the Opéra de Vichy, etc.

Recently Riccardo was selected as Orfeo in Monteverdi's Orfeo with René Jacobs for the professional training courses at Royaumont Foundation.

Additional engagements include the role of Orfeo in Orfeo Dolente by Domenico Belli under the direction of Francesco Cera; the title roles in Orfeo and Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria by Monteverdi at Schwetzingen Teather and Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisboa; the role of Ormondo in Il Girello by Jacopo Melani with Auser Musici and Puppetry Company Carlo Colla, and a recording of Handel's Dixit Dominus for Sony DHM.

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