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The Italian conductor and harpsichordist, Alessandro De Marchi, first studied organ and composition at the Conservatory di Santa Cecilia in Rome, going on to study harpsichord, basso continuo, chamber music and Baroque style at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. While there he worked with Jesper Christensen who inspired him to undertake philological research on early musical manuscripts and treatises. He then became Professor of organ and Gregorian chant at the Conservatory D. Cimarosa, pianist of the St. Louis Big Band, and harpsichordist with the Italian Baroque Orchestra, and went on to become conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of G. Carissimi, being awarded his diploma in organ and composition.
Following study with J.B. Christensen, Alessandro De Marchi began his collaboration with the ensemble Il Teatro Armonico with whom he toured Europe as well as making recordings and radio broadcasts of unpublished Italian Baroque works (Harmonia Mundi France, Accord, Symphonia, WDR, Radio France, Radio Classique, etc.)
His collaboration with René Jacobs as harpsichordist and assistant began with Cesti's Orontea in Basel in 1989; Alessandro de Marchi then conducted this work in major theatres throughout Europe. After observing De Marchi at a rehearsal for Carl Heinrich Graun's Cleopatra e Cesare in 1992, Daniel Barenboim invited him to work regularly at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, first as assistant and then as guest conductor. He became a regular guest artist, as assistant and harpsichordist, at the Salzburg Festival (Monteverdi's Orfeo with René Jacobs; W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni with Daniel Barenboim and Donald Runnicles; and J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with Claudio Abbado).
Alessandro De Marchi conducted much-applauded productions of Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto, Haydn's L'isola disabitata and Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Since he has been much in demand, conducting in prestigious venues throughout Europe including the Innsbruck Festival, the Théätre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Teatro Regio in Turin and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. At the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin he was the harpsichordist and musical assistant, before making his conducting debut there in Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto. He subsequently conducted C.H. Graun's Cleopatra And Caesar, J.S. Bach's Kunst Der Fuge (BWV 1080), Haydn's L'Isola Disabitata, and Rossini's Il Barbiere Di Siviglia.
Alessandro De Marchi has also conducted Jommelli's La Passione Di Nostro Signore Gesu Cristo in Palermo, Provenzale's La Stellidaura Vendicante in Liège and Bruxelles, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater in Innsbruck, W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Donizetti's Don Pasquale in Bruxelles, Cavalli's Gli Amori di Apollo e Dafne in Fano, Haydn's Orfeo ed Euridice in Enschede, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse and Reinhard Keiser's Masaniello Furioso in Stuttgart, and Il Re Pastore in Bruxelles. He is also a regular guest conductor at the Rossini Festival of Bad Wildbad and the Halle Händel Festival.
With productions in recent seasons of Don Giovanni, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Giulio Cesare and R. Keiser's Der Lächerliche Prinz Jodelet at the Hamburgische Staatsoper; Hercules at the Händel Festpiele in Halle; Orlando in Essen; W.A. Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte at La Monnaie; Alcina a the Opéra de Lyon; and a new production of La Clemenza Di Tito at the National Theatre in Prague, Alessandro de Marchi is one of the most sought-after conductors in his repertoire. He has just recorded the Malibran version of La Sonnambula with Cecilia Bartoli and Juan Diego Flórez for Decca, and future plans include W.A. Mozart's Die Entführung Aus Dem Serail and Johann Adolf Hasse's Cleofide at the Semperoper in Dresden, L'Incornazione di Poppea in Hamburg, Teseo at the Komische Oper in Berlin, and his ongoing relationship with the Academia Montis Regalis in Turin.
Alessandro De Marchi regularly records with Academia Montis Regalis for Opus 111. |
