Alessandro De Marchi

Conductor and harpsichordist Alessandro De Marchi is heralded internationally for his historically informed interpretations of operas and oratorios from the Baroque period. His repertoire is not constrained to works from that era, though; he applies his practice techniques to works from the Classical period, Romantic period bel canto operas, and beyond. He served as the director of the Academia Montis Regalis orchestra from 1997 until 2018, and he was the artistic director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music from 2009 to 2023. De Marchi has guest conducted a variety of groups, including the youth historical orchestra THERESIA on a recording of Domenico Cimarosa's opera Le Astuzie Femminili in 2024. De Marchi was born in Rome in 1962. He studied composition and organ at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia, then moved to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis to study harpsichord, chamber music, and continuo; among his teachers at the latter was Jesper Christensen, who nurtured De Marchi's interest in early music. In 1989, he began appearing as a harpsichordist and assistant to René Jacobs. His first performance in this role was a production of Antonio Cesti's Orontea; De Marchi conducted this production on a tour through Europe. His recording debut came in 1990, leading the Il Teatro Armonico Ensemble from the harpsichord in a performance of Bernardo Pasquini's Caino e Abele (reissued in 2012). Daniel Barenboim took note of the budding conductor and invited De Marchi to be his assistant at Berlin's Deutsche Staatsoper and later as a guest conductor. He has returned often to that venue. He also served as an assistant and harpsichordist for the Salzburg Festival, performing Monteverdi's Orfeo under Jacobs and Bach's St. Matthew Passion under Claudio Abbado, among other works. De Marchi has guest conducted a number of significant European orchestras, such as the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Wiener Symphoniker, and the Staatskapelle Berlin. His skill in the operatic realm has opened opportunities for De Marchi to lead productions throughout Europe, the Americas, Australia, and Japan. In 1997, he became the director of the Academia Montis Regalis orchestra, a period instrument orchestra that focuses on performing music of the Baroque and Classical periods on original instruments. As part of the Opus111 label's "Vivaldi Edition" series recording the works housed in Turin's National University Library, De Marchi led Academia Montis Regalis on its debut recording with Vivaldi's Juditha triumphans in 2001. He recorded regularly with that group, including more entries in the "Vivaldi Edition" series as well as works by Handel, Haydn, and Alessandro Stradella, among others. In 2009, De Marchi succeeded Jacobs as the artistic director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, bringing the Academia Montis Regalis orchestra along with him as the festival's resident orchestra in 2010. Among the operas presented by De Marchi and his orchestra there was Telemann's Flavius Bertaridus, which was recorded and released in 2012. De Marchi remained in his position with Academia Montis Regalis until 2018, and he subsequently founded the Innsbruck Festival Weeks Orchestra. In 2022, he led that orchestra on a recording of Pasquini's L'Idalma from the 2021 festival. De Marchi stepped down from his role with the Innsbruck Festival in 2023, and the following year, he led the youth historical orchestra THERESIA on the CPO recording Domenico Cimarosa: Le Astuzie Femminili. ~ Keith Finke, Rovi