Conductor

Thursday concert 03: Giovanni Antonini & Sabin Tambrea

Mozarteum Foundation

A total dream team. Conductor Giovanni Antonini and pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout are real specialists when it comes to the music of Haydn, guaranteed to make it sound like new. They’re partnering with our very own Royal Northern Sinfonia.

EPSG:4326

Haydn's London Symphony

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music

»Music should touch the heart!« Giovanni Antonini is a phenomenal artist who succeeds in realising this credo of 18th century composers. The Italian conductor likes to indulge in the emotional worlds that the works tell us about, immersing himself in the effects and emotions. A musician who has his own language in the midst of all the performers, whose signature is unmistakable and who breathes a lot of fresh air. His energy is truly infectious – and when asked where he gets it from, he once replied in an interview: »I get it from the music. Even after a concert, which was exhausting and tiring, I’m always tired in a positive sense, that’s the difference. And so on the day after, I’m ready for a new musical adventure. And of course there is also my great love for music!« However, he is not only a fiery spirit, but also a sharp-witted analyst. He is particularly well-known for his innovative and sophisticated approaches to the baroque and classical repertoire – and we love to regularly and intensively explore this historical approach with him. This time he takes us into Mozart's adventure world: his last two symphonies are on the programme. In between, there is another »musical adventure«, which Giovanni Antonini has rarely done recently, but which he is happy to do with us: as an accomplished recorder player, he himself takes on the solo part in Telemann’s original instrumental concerto. Our audience is in for a wonderful musical stroll through the colours and temperaments of the 18th century – where the point was always to »delight the connoisseurs and lovers of music«.

Giovanni Antonini

Bamberg Concert Hall

Guest in Weikersheim

Tauberphilharmonie Weikersheim

For regular concert goers, it’s only natural for past musical experiences to sometimes merge with one another or even be forgotten. This shouldn’t be the case with the following two extraordinary artists who regularly perform with the Czech Philharmonic: Magdalena Kožená, who brings artistic refinement, technical perfection, and vocal colour to everything she does; and Giovanni Antonini who brings thrilling Italian temperament to his authentic interpretations of early music.

Czech Philharmonic • Giovanni Antonini

Rudolfinum

Journeys are an excellent balm for the soul – Mendelssohn already knew this when he set off for Italy in 1830 and, during a stopover in Weimar, may well have heard his friend Goethe say: »The free sea frees the spirit«. The Italian landscape inspired Mendelssohn to compose his fourth symphony: especially the melodic, gushing opening movement and the intoxicating saltarello finale seem wonderfully bathed in sunlight. Mozart's numerous itineraries have also left their mark: in 1773, at the age of only sixteen, he wrote the sometimes jubilant, sometimes heartfelt motet »Exsultate, jubilate« in Milan for an Italian castrato who is said to have sung »like an angel«. No less angelic will star soprano Julia Lezhneva perform this work for us. Unlike Mozart, Haydn spent most of his time in the provinces in his cherished »Esterházy's fairy land«, except for his later trips to London – but the great cities nevertheless became aware of him, so he travelled in spirit. The symphony no. 85, written for Paris in 1785, was given the title »La Reine« because Queen Marie Antoinette held it in particularly high esteem: A splendid composition that takes the folk song »La gentille et jeune Lisette« and integrates it with a number of surprises. Rossini also left behind grandiose numbers in his many operas, such as the soulful lament »Assisa a piè d'un salice« and the bravura aria »Tanti affetti in tal momento«. Born in a small harbour town on the Adriatic Sea, he was revered throughout Europe. We look forward to the conducting of Giovanni Antonini, who has become a regular guest in Bamberg!

Giovanni Antonini conducts Mendelssohn's "Italienische"

Two orchestras – the Czech Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic Youth Orchestra – join forces to perform works by the two of the most popular classical composers: Mozart and Beethoven. Giovanni Antonini will lead both orchestras, looking for hidden worlds between the lines in the scores. All his life, he has specialised in older music.

As a boy, Giovanni’s parents wanted to enrol him in the preparatory department of the Milan Conservatoire. According to the school, their son was too high-spirited, and he was not admitted as a violin student, but he soon more than made up for their disappointment. He studied the recorder, and while still a student, he joined with the lute player Luca Pianca in establishing Il Giardino Armonico—an ensemble that has won worldwide renown over its 40 years of existence in the field of the informed interpretation of early music.

This promises to be a delightful theatrical experience: Giovanni Antonini, as conductor and director, guides us through an original program brimming with powerful emotions and dramatic surprises. In the first part, we embark on a journey through the enchanting world of Italian music, which in the 18th and 19th centuries revolved almost exclusively around opera. Many composers explored this genre, and we present wonderful arias penned by the then-leading bel canto masters Rossini, Bellini, and Paisiello – and welcome the acclaimed artist Julia Lezhneva to sing the often rapid coloratura passages. 

Conductor

Giovanni Antonini

Events

Upcoming events

7 - 9 Jan, 2026

Czech Philharmonic • Giovanni Antonini · Czech Philharmonic

14 - 16 Jan, 2026

Czech Philharmonic • Giovanni Antonini · Czech Philharmonic

Feb 28 - Mar 1, 2026

Giovanni Antonini, Julia Lezhneva · Bamberger Symphoniker

Past events

Dec 18, 2025

Thursday concert 03: Giovanni Antonini & Sabin Tambrea · Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum

Oct 24, 2025

Haydn's London Symphony · Royal Northern Sinfonia

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Symphony No. 4 (Italian) by Mendelssohn

Bamberger Symphoniker

Conductor in Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter) by Mozart

Bamberger Symphoniker

Conductor in Symphony No. 104 (London) by Haydn

Royal Northern Sinfonia

Conductor in Symphony No. 40 by Mozart

Bamberger Symphoniker

Conductor in Triple Concerto by Beethoven

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Flute Concerto in D major by Vivaldi

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Symphony No. 4 by Beethoven

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Requiem in D minor by Mozart

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Idomeneo by Mozart

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Don Giovanni by Mozart

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Symphony No. 6 by Beethoven

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Exsultate Jubilate by Mozart

Bamberger Symphoniker

Conductor in L’Olimpiade Overture by Vivaldi

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Recorder Concerto by Telemann

Bamberger Symphoniker

Conductor in Symphony No. 85 “La Reine” (The Queen) by Haydn

Bamberger Symphoniker

Conductor in Olympie Overture by Kraus

Royal Northern Sinfonia

Conductor in Berenice, che fai by Haydn

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Werther by Pugnani

Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum

Conductor in Symphony No. 54 by Haydn

Czech Philharmonic

Conductor in Symphony C major Hob. I:60 by Haydn

Bamberger Symphoniker

About

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