The Accademia Strumentale Italiana was founded in Verona with the specific purpose of recreating the atmospheres of those ancient and illustrious academies, where the pleasure of meeting one another gave a special flavour to making music together. Its repertoire encompasses instrumental and vocal music ranging from the Renaissance to the Baroque, performed according to strict philological canons, but without compromising its ability to comunicate with the present: its musicians are convinced that even if the score is ancient, Music is always timeless.
The Accademia has performed extensively in Europe and has been invited to several international festivals where it has always met with widespread critical acclaim.
The members of the Accademia are all renowned specialists in HIP and work together with some of the most famous European ensembles.
From 2000 to 2012, with the name Il Tempio Armonico and with violinist Davide Monti, the Accademia musicians recorded the complete works for orchestra by Felice Evaristo Dall'Abaco, and a celebrated version of Antonio Vivaldi's 4 Seasons.
Since 1993 the Accademia Strumentale has recorded mainly for Stradivarius and DIVOX, collecting prizes and awards from the specialized press (Midem Classical Award 2007 with the CD “Dolcissimo Sospiro”). With the recording of Die Kunst der Fuga started a collaboration with the Dutch label Challenge Records, which continued in 2022 with Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts by J.Ph. Rameau and in 2023 with John Dowland's Lachrimae.
Alberto Rasi is the group’s musical director; the ensemble is currently composed of a consort of viols, who are joined by guest artists invited to partake in larger projects, to form a chamber orchestra
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Since 1978, taking advantage of his training as a Double Bass player, he began playing both the viola da gamba and violone, giving concerts and recordings with the most renowned groups.
In 1981 he co-founded Accademia Strumentale Italiana with the harpischordist Patrizia Marisaldi.
As soloist and with this ensemble he has given concerts throughout Europe and beyond. In 1992 he became Artistic Director of this group and he has recorded several CDs for the Stradivarius label of Milan and various others CD labels winning various prizes including: Diapason d’Or, 10 de Repertoire, Musica 5 Stars, Amadeus and the Midem Classical Award 2007 in the category, Early Music.
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