the voices

La Stagione Armonica was founded in 1991 by the madrigalistis of the Centro di Musica Antica of Padua and in its long activity devoted itself especially to the Renaissance and Baroque repertoire, even if in these last years the choir worked also to classical and contemporary pieces. From 1996 the Ensemble is prepared and directed by its Artistic Director Sergio Balesracci.

The Stagione Armonica has its own team of instrumentalists and soloists, all of them well known performers, and has collaborated with orchestras and instrumental groups among which Hesperion XX, Accademia Bizantina, Orchestra Acàdemia 1750 (Barcelona), Accademia degli Astrusi, Dolce & Tempesta, Orchestra Barocca of Venice, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Solisti Veneti, Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini and Orchestra Giovanile Italiana.

The ensemble has been directed by well-known directors as Anthony Rooley, Nigel Rogers, Jordi Savall, Peter Maag, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Gustav Leonhardt, Andrea Marcon, Ottavio Dantone, Stefano Demicheli, Marco Mencoboni, Reinhard Goebel, René Jacobs, Jonathan Webb, Howard Shelley, Claudio Scimone, Federico Ferri, Zsolt Hamar, and from 2009 the Ensamble starts its collaboration reconfirmed for several times with Maestro Riccardo Muti.

Stagione Armonica has taken part to the most important festivals in Italy and abroad: Ravenna Festival, Poesia e Musica a San Maurizio in Milan, Settembre Musica in Turin (MiTo), Festival Claudio Monteverdi in Cremona, TrentoMusicAntica, Festival Cantar Lontano, Festival Barocco in Viterbo, Serate Musicali in Milan, Festival Abbaye d’Ambronnay, York Early Music Festival, Festival of Flanders, Festival of Torroella de Montgrì, Festival Misteria Paschalia in Cracow, Festival Europäische Kirchenmusik, Salzburger Festspiele.

With concerts in Switzerland, Germany, France, Portugal, Austria, Spain, Great Britain, Belgium, Holland and Poland Stagione Armonica has collaborated with associations as Amici della Musica of Florence, Amici della Musica of Padua, Fondazione Levi and Teatro La Fenice of Venice, Ente Lirico Arena di Verona, Unione Musicale of Turin, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Teatro del Maggio Fiorentino, Teatro Municipale of Piacenza.

Stagione Armonica has recorded for RAI, German, Swiss, French and Belgian radios and televisions as well as for Astrée, Tactus, Denon, Argon-Decca, Tall Brook, Arabesque, Symphonia, Bongiovanni, CPO, Archivi, Deutsche Grammophon, Brilliant, Fuga Libera, Sony DHM and for the magazine Amadeus; In 2015 took part with the orchestra Accademia degli Astrusi in the recording of Semiramide La Signora Regale, produced and performed by Anna Bonitatibus. The CD winnedThe International Opera Awards as Best CD Operatic Recital.

We recommend among the best productions

  • J.S. Bach: Messa in Si Minore, Oratorio di Natale, Johannes-Passion
  • G. F. Händel: Dettingen Te Deum, Messia. Conductor, Reinhard Goebel
  • L. van Beethoven: Missa Solemnis, Christus am Oelberge, Ninth Symphony. Orchestra Leader: Zsolt Hamar
  • Antonio Caldara: the oratorio Il Re del Dolore. Conductor Ottavio Dantone
  • F. Liszt: Via Crucis. Conduttore, Michele Campanella
  • B. Britten: Curlew River. Conduttor, Jonathan Webb, direction: Andrea De Rosa
  • W. A. Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail K. 384 (The rape from the serail) Conductor, René Jacobs

The Choir of Stagione Armonica, prepared by Sergio Balestracci, from 2009 has been called to collaborate with Maestro Riccardo Muti and under his direction has performed many concerts in the most prestigious theatres and festivals in Italy and abroad. The collaboration with Maestro Muti has been confirmed in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015.

In 2009 and 2011 with the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini directed by Maestro Riccardo Muti, the choir of Stagione Armonica has performed the Missa Defunctorum by Giovanni Paisiello and the Requiem in do minore by Luigi Cherubini in the famous musical festival Salzburger Festspiele (Pentecost Festival) in Salzburg.

Missa pro defunctis 7 v. (Excerpt) Ahi que dolor (excpert)