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The Swiss conductor and trombonist, Lorenzo Ghirlanda, took a diploma in trombone at Bern University of the Arts, playing with Bern Opera for two years during his studies. From 1998 to 2001 he was a postgraduate student at the Liszt School of Music in Weimar and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel), where he specialised in Baroque trombone.
In 1999, Lorenzo Ghirlanda founded the instrumental consort Canto Antico with three other trombonists, to provide a platform for his growing interest in historical instruments and Renaissance and Baroque performance practice. The ensemble won first prize in the International Jan Koetsier Competition.
Lorenzo Ghirlanda works regularly with Luca Pianca, with Vittorio Ghielmi's ensemble Il Suonar Parlante, and with the Milan-based ensemble La Galeazzesca. He has for many years worked closely with the Dutch conductor and composer Hans Rotman, developing projects that seek to create links between early and contemporary music. In 2007 he was involved as both co-director and soloist in their multimedia production of Dietrich Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu nostri during the Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca in Spain.
From 2004 to 2006, Lorenzo Ghirlanda developed the ‘Europa Werkstatt’ project at the Weimar Arts Festival (Artistic Director: Nike Wagner), in which young European musicians were brought together with famous soloists, including renowned pianist Ivo Pogorelich in 2006. Since that time he has also worked as Ivo Pogorelich’s artistic adviser.
In 2008, Lorenzo Ghirlanda gave his debut as a conductor in George Frideric Handel's opera Alcina at the Handel Festival in Halle (Saale). Subsequent conducting projects included a trilogy of fragments of unknown Handel operas: Titus, directed by Schorsch Kamerun, in 2010, Berenice, with Showcase Beat Le Mot, in 2011, and Alceste, directed by Paul Binnerts, in 2012.
In addition to his performing and conducting activities, Lorenzo Ghirlanda devotes time to academic research. From 2003 to 2005 he was awarded funding by the Swiss National Science Foundation to develop a project entitled ‘Language in Music’. He also studied the historical trombone and techniques of articulation at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel), the Liszt School of Music in Weimar, the Colloque Harmonique in Lausanne, the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Since 2008, he has been directing a research project on acoustics and articulation at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, giving a presentation on the topic at an international conference entitled ‘The Reflective Conservatoire: Building Connections’ at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in February 2009. He currently lives in Berlin, Germany. |
