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The Ensemble Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca (= SGM) was founded in 1983 in Treviso ("Marca Gioiosa et Amorosa"), a city that had been part of the borderland (Marca) of the Venetian Republic since the 15th Century (the Renaissance).
The SGM, after perfecting their talents with leading performers of ancient music at Basel's Schola Cantorum, London's Royal College of Music and Geneve's Centre de Musique Ancienne, developed an innovative and virtuoso style of interpretation, based on scholarship and technical brilliance; notably their interpretation of Antonio Vivaldi's violin repertoire has been internationally acknowledged. The have become one of the most famous groups in Italy, an ensemble that for almost twenty years has been playing ancient music on period instruments. They are also recognized as one of the leading European Baroque ensembles specializing in Venetian music from Monteverdi to A. Vivaldi. A string ensemble that can be expanded into a small orchestra, the SGM feature a repertoire that ranges from the late 16th century to Classicism, with particular dedication to traditional music of the Veneto.
The SGM have taken part in such important international music festivals as those held in Ambronaye, Amsterdam (the Concertgebouw), Ascona (Settimane Musicali), Bremen (Musikfest), Bruges (Festival van Vlaanderen), Brussels (Festival de Wallonie, Printemps de Sablon), Buenos Aires (Teatro Coliseum), Le Chaise Dieu, Lisbon (Gulbenkian, Capuchos), Luzern (Osterfestspiele), Ludwigsburg, Lugano (Primavera Concertistica), Montreux (Voice & Music Festival), Mnchen (Opern-Festspiele), Regensburg (Tage Alte Musik), Salzburg (Mozarteum, Bach-Gesellschaft), Sion (Festival Tibor Varga), St. Moritz (Snow & Symphony), Zrich (Tonhalle), Wien (Musikvereinsaal, Resonanzen), among others, and they have likewise performed in major cities throughout Europe.
In Italy, the complex has played at the most important music festivals as well as for the primary concert organisers, including Bologna Festival, Città di Castello (Festival delle Nazioni), Ferrara Musica, Florence (Amici della Musica), Milan (Società del Quartetto, San Maurizio), Padova (Amici della Musica), Reggio Emila (Teatro Valli), Sienna (Accademia Chigiana), Torino (Unione musicale), Vicenza (Amici della Musica) etc. Their concerts have been broadcast on a regular basis by all the principal radio networks in Europe.
Often the recipients of awards from the music media for their many recordings, the SGM won the "Diapason d'or de l'année" in Paris for their concert rendition of A. Vivaldi's Le Humane passioni (Divox Antiqua) together with the violinist Giuliano Carmignola. And in Venice in 1998, the group received the "Premio Vivaldi" presented by the G. Cini Foundation for "Balli, capricci e stravaganze".
Again in 1998, the SGM collaborated with Cecilia Bartoli in making a video and CD (Decca) at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, a performance that has won clamorous applause from music critics all over the world: Amsterdam, Cologne, Vienna, Salzburg, Frankfurt, Zrich, Dresden and Milan. Moreover, since 1999 the SGM have recorded for the French label Erato: Concerti della Natura by A. Vivaldi, Concerti Veneziani, Follie all‘Italiana, the Concerts for Violoncello from the collection Schömborn by A. Vivaldi and Harmonie Veneziane.
Along with their interpretations of masterpieces by Vivaldi, the SGM have devoted themselves to the re-discovery of the great musical tradition of 17th-century Italy. As part of this initiative, the group has made several recordings of the "Musiche per Archi della Repubblica di Venezia" (Music for Strings of the Republic of Venice), a project undertaken in collaboration with the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (WDR). |
