La Serenissima is the UK’s leading exponent of Italian baroque music.
Praised for its ‘all-too-rare ability to make one’s pulse race afresh with every new project’ (Gramophone), the group has uncovered a plethora of neglected music, making it available to all through live performance, recording and outreach. Uniquely, the group’s entire repertoire is edited from source material by founder and violinist, Adrian Chandler OSI.
Established in 1994, La Serenissima is recognised for its outstanding recording catalogue, which is regularly featured on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and international radio; as well as in worldwide advertising (Beats, 2022) and film (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2020).
The group has twice won the Gramophone Award for ‘Baroque Instrumental’ for The French Connection (2010) and The Italian Job (2017).
La Serenissima topped the UK Classical Chart in 2018 with album Vivaldi X2.
The ensemble’s growing online following is evidenced by over a million monthly Spotify listeners; their recording of The Four Seasons has now surpassed 95 million streams. Latest album Forza Azzurri! (released November 2022) was featured on Italian Radio:24 – “No irony, simply the umpteenth demonstration of the love of Adrian Chandler, founder and director of the La Serenissima ensemble, for our country and for our music.”
The group creates digital outreach resources for primary school-aged children and opportunities for young professional instrumentalists from across globe via Emerging Artist Chairs.
La Serenissima has performed throughout the UK and internationally in concert series and festivals including MustonenFest (Estonia), Handel-Festspiele (Germany), Valletta International Baroque Festival (Malta) and International Cervantes Festival (Mexico). The group has given the UK premiere of Brescianello’s opera Tisbe (2018) and the modern premiere of Caldara’s opera Lucio Papirio Dittatore (2019).
As resident at London’s Wigmore Hall during 2024-2025, La Serenissima presents:
‘The A-Z of the Italian Baroque’
The composers of the Italian baroque whose music graces today’s concert programmes are relatively few and far between; Albinoni, Corelli and Vivaldi form the staple diet, with the occasional work by Scarlatti or Torelli thrown in for good measure.
Praised for its ‘all-too-rare ability to make one’s pulse race afresh with every new project’ (Gramophone), the group has uncovered a plethora of neglected music, making it available to all through live performance, recording and outreach. Uniquely, the group’s entire repertoire is edited from source material by founder and violinist, Adrian Chandler OSI.
Established in 1994, La Serenissima is recognised for its outstanding recording catalogue, which is regularly featured on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and international radio; as well as in worldwide advertising (Beats, 2022) and film (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2020).
The group has twice won the Gramophone Award for ‘Baroque Instrumental’ for The French Connection (2010) and The Italian Job (2017).
La Serenissima topped the UK Classical Chart in 2018 with album Vivaldi X2.
The ensemble’s growing online following is evidenced by over a million monthly Spotify listeners; their recording of The Four Seasons has now surpassed 95 million streams. Latest album Forza Azzurri! (released November 2022) was featured on Italian Radio:24 – “No irony, simply the umpteenth demonstration of the love of Adrian Chandler, founder and director of the La Serenissima ensemble, for our country and for our music.”
The group creates digital outreach resources for primary school-aged children and opportunities for young professional instrumentalists from across globe via Emerging Artist Chairs.
La Serenissima has performed throughout the UK and internationally in concert series and festivals including MustonenFest (Estonia), Handel-Festspiele (Germany), Valletta International Baroque Festival (Malta) and International Cervantes Festival (Mexico). The group has given the UK premiere of Brescianello’s opera Tisbe (2018) and the modern premiere of Caldara’s opera Lucio Papirio Dittatore (2019).
As resident at London’s Wigmore Hall during 2024-2025, La Serenissima presents:
‘The A-Z of the Italian Baroque’
The composers of the Italian baroque whose music graces today’s concert programmes are relatively few and far between; Albinoni, Corelli and Vivaldi form the staple diet, with the occasional work by Scarlatti or Torelli thrown in for good measure.
In the 18th Century, things were quite different. Many other composers were needed to fulfil the needs of the regional courts and churches. Even abroad, no court was complete without its resident Italian maestro or group of Italian string players, a situation that encouraged many Italian musicians to pursue careers north of the Alps.
Whilst some of the usual suspects are included in this series, La Serenissima, celebrating its 30th anniversary this season, features many composers whose music is seldom played today.
In addition to various programmes they perform, La Serenissima has recently performed Mandolin Concertos with an outstanding mandolin player Raffaele La Ragione.
“The young Raffaele La Ragione is now on the mandolin what Gustav Leonhardt was once on the harpsichord” Le Monde
La Serenissima is proud to have as its Honorary Patron, His Excellency The Ambassador of Italy to the UK.
IMPACT:
♦La Serenissima celebrates 30 years of enriching lives in 2024.
In addition to various programmes they perform, La Serenissima has recently performed Mandolin Concertos with an outstanding mandolin player Raffaele La Ragione.
“The young Raffaele La Ragione is now on the mandolin what Gustav Leonhardt was once on the harpsichord” Le Monde
La Serenissima is proud to have as its Honorary Patron, His Excellency The Ambassador of Italy to the UK.
IMPACT:
♦La Serenissima celebrates 30 years of enriching lives in 2024.
♦They typically perform about 20 concerts annually at high-profile venues and where classical music is harder to find.
♦Outreach encompasses workshops for Primary school-aged children and a scheme for young professionals, Emerging Artist Chairs.
♦They create employment for 50-60 artists per year, from a wide range of backgrounds – both young musicians and established artists.
♦Every year they reach more than 10 million listeners through worldwide radio-play.
♦Their music is available in over 150 countries and to more than 150 million streaming service subscribers.
♦They have twice won the Gramophone Award for ‘Baroque Instrumental’ (in 2010 & 2017) and have topped the UK Specialist Classical Chart.
♦Their contribution to Italian culture is recognised by a partnership with the Italian Embassy to the UK.
RECENT ALBUM RELEASES:
Diavolo
Often compared to Vivaldi, Giuseppe Tartini was a famous virtuoso violinist and highly respected teacher, and is best known for the sonata “Il Trillo del Diavolo” (The Devi’s Trill) which is legendary for both its story and for its fiendish level of technical wizardry.
Vivaldi x2²
Double Concertos for pairs of cellos, violins, flutes & oboes, including Concerto Il Proteo ò il Mondo al Roverscio RV 572.
The ensemble recorded some of Vivaldi’s most colourful and joyful works.
This album follows up their 2018 chart-topping album Vivaldi x2.
UPCOMING ALBUM RELEASE:
They will release a new album Vivaldi - Opus 8 in 2025.
The album will bring together the first 6 concertos of Vivaldi’s Amsterdam publication – and two other works, including a stunning double violin concerto (RV515).
This album will mark their 30th Anniversary, as well as the 300th Anniversary of the Opus 8 Amsterdam publication.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Please check: https://www.laserenissima.co.uk/events/
RECENT ALBUM RELEASES:
Diavolo
Often compared to Vivaldi, Giuseppe Tartini was a famous virtuoso violinist and highly respected teacher, and is best known for the sonata “Il Trillo del Diavolo” (The Devi’s Trill) which is legendary for both its story and for its fiendish level of technical wizardry.
Vivaldi x2²
Double Concertos for pairs of cellos, violins, flutes & oboes, including Concerto Il Proteo ò il Mondo al Roverscio RV 572.
The ensemble recorded some of Vivaldi’s most colourful and joyful works.
This album follows up their 2018 chart-topping album Vivaldi x2.
UPCOMING ALBUM RELEASE:
They will release a new album Vivaldi - Opus 8 in 2025.
The album will bring together the first 6 concertos of Vivaldi’s Amsterdam publication – and two other works, including a stunning double violin concerto (RV515).
This album will mark their 30th Anniversary, as well as the 300th Anniversary of the Opus 8 Amsterdam publication.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Please check: https://www.laserenissima.co.uk/events/
SELECTED REVIEWS:
CD: Vivaldi x2²
"There was a time that British ensembles were rather restrained in their interpretation of Italian instrumental music. The appearance of Italian ensembles was a breath of fresh air, as they delivered much more colourful performances, with strong contrasts in tempo and dynamics. That is history. We have here a British ensemble which produces high-spirited interpretations of Vivaldi’s double concertos, in an unashamedly Italianate fashion. The result is an exciting disc, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. The playing of the solos is outstanding, the rhythmic pulse in the fast movements irresistible, and the slow movements are pathetic – in the right – or perhaps, old – sense of the word. This disc will make any music lover happy and I am sure anyone who has it in his or her collection will regularly return to it."
Music Web International
‘One of the most vibrant early music ensembles in Europe today.’
John Gilhooly CBE, OSI, Wigmore Hall
'They really put the rock in to baroque’
Classic FM
‘La Serenissima, the “most serene republic of Venice”, is also the name of one of Britain’s best-loved chamber orchestras. …
The group’s chatty director Adrian Chandler, assured us that Lorenzo Zavateri’s Concerto for Two Violins was “a real corker”, and he wasn’t exaggerating. It too had a lovely pastorale and a delicious slow movement… For a moment, I thought I was listening to a sentimental Italian pop ballad from the 1970s. …
'The piece everyone was waiting for was Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. No classical pieces are more overplayed, recomposed and generally abused than these four concertos. And yet, when played with fire and imagination, they are revealed as the masterpieces they truly are. … Chandler and his group achieved that magnificently. … There was a pungent earthy vividness to everything, which reminded us that Vivaldi – unlike the modern day sophisticates who have recomposed and rearranged his masterpiece – had actually experienced the country realities his music evokes so brilliantly.’
Ivan Hewitt, The Telegraph
‘Whipping up a storm with Vivaldi’
Wigmore Hall concert review (December 2023)
‘Recognised for ‘whipping up a storm with Vivaldi’, La Serenissima is ‘one of Britain’s best-loved chamber orchestras’
The Telegraph
CD: Brescianello Unlocked
‘Technical acrobatics, jaunty melodies and shifting rhythms’
5 star-review BBC Music Magazine
CD: Forza Azzurri!
“No irony, simply the umpteenth demonstration of the love of Adrian Chandler, founder and director of the La Serenissima ensemble, for our country and for our music.”
Italian Radio:24
CD: The Four Seasons
‘…an avant-garde approach that would have awed Hendrix’
The Guardian
CD: The Four Seasons
‘This is an ensemble that clearly loves Vivaldi. Their energy, enthusiasm and passion for the music shines through and casts a new light on a very familiar work. ‘
Classic FM
CD: Vivaldi x2
‘Flawlessly paced, expertly executed, spaciously recorded … La Serenissima’s youthful mojo shines brightly’
BBC Music Magazine
CD: Vivaldi x2
‘They really put the rock in to baroque’
Classic FM
CD: The Godfather
‘…nothing short of magnificent’
Gramophone Magazine
CD: Behind Closed Doors
‘The performances by this accomplished ensemble are polished and invigorating’
BBC Music Magazine
CD: Extra Time
‘The music-making is top-drawer and joyous’
Gramophone
“The group La Serenissima, directed by violinist Adrian Chandler exudes the pulsing, frenetic energy that makes middle Baroque music rock.” psaudio.com
La Serenissima is a Member of the Association of British Orchestras & a Founder Member of Opera UK.
CD: Vivaldi x2²
"There was a time that British ensembles were rather restrained in their interpretation of Italian instrumental music. The appearance of Italian ensembles was a breath of fresh air, as they delivered much more colourful performances, with strong contrasts in tempo and dynamics. That is history. We have here a British ensemble which produces high-spirited interpretations of Vivaldi’s double concertos, in an unashamedly Italianate fashion. The result is an exciting disc, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. The playing of the solos is outstanding, the rhythmic pulse in the fast movements irresistible, and the slow movements are pathetic – in the right – or perhaps, old – sense of the word. This disc will make any music lover happy and I am sure anyone who has it in his or her collection will regularly return to it."
Music Web International
‘One of the most vibrant early music ensembles in Europe today.’
John Gilhooly CBE, OSI, Wigmore Hall
'They really put the rock in to baroque’
Classic FM
‘La Serenissima, the “most serene republic of Venice”, is also the name of one of Britain’s best-loved chamber orchestras. …
The group’s chatty director Adrian Chandler, assured us that Lorenzo Zavateri’s Concerto for Two Violins was “a real corker”, and he wasn’t exaggerating. It too had a lovely pastorale and a delicious slow movement… For a moment, I thought I was listening to a sentimental Italian pop ballad from the 1970s. …
'The piece everyone was waiting for was Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. No classical pieces are more overplayed, recomposed and generally abused than these four concertos. And yet, when played with fire and imagination, they are revealed as the masterpieces they truly are. … Chandler and his group achieved that magnificently. … There was a pungent earthy vividness to everything, which reminded us that Vivaldi – unlike the modern day sophisticates who have recomposed and rearranged his masterpiece – had actually experienced the country realities his music evokes so brilliantly.’
Ivan Hewitt, The Telegraph
‘Whipping up a storm with Vivaldi’
Wigmore Hall concert review (December 2023)
‘Recognised for ‘whipping up a storm with Vivaldi’, La Serenissima is ‘one of Britain’s best-loved chamber orchestras’
The Telegraph
CD: Brescianello Unlocked
‘Technical acrobatics, jaunty melodies and shifting rhythms’
5 star-review BBC Music Magazine
CD: Forza Azzurri!
“No irony, simply the umpteenth demonstration of the love of Adrian Chandler, founder and director of the La Serenissima ensemble, for our country and for our music.”
Italian Radio:24
CD: The Four Seasons
‘…an avant-garde approach that would have awed Hendrix’
The Guardian
CD: The Four Seasons
‘This is an ensemble that clearly loves Vivaldi. Their energy, enthusiasm and passion for the music shines through and casts a new light on a very familiar work. ‘
Classic FM
CD: Vivaldi x2
‘Flawlessly paced, expertly executed, spaciously recorded … La Serenissima’s youthful mojo shines brightly’
BBC Music Magazine
CD: Vivaldi x2
‘They really put the rock in to baroque’
Classic FM
CD: The Godfather
‘…nothing short of magnificent’
Gramophone Magazine
CD: Behind Closed Doors
‘The performances by this accomplished ensemble are polished and invigorating’
BBC Music Magazine
CD: Extra Time
‘The music-making is top-drawer and joyous’
Gramophone
“The group La Serenissima, directed by violinist Adrian Chandler exudes the pulsing, frenetic energy that makes middle Baroque music rock.” psaudio.com
La Serenissima is a Member of the Association of British Orchestras & a Founder Member of Opera UK.
