LA SCINTILLA



RICCARDO MINASI

artistic director


Riccardo Minasi received his first music lessons from his mother, studying modern violin with Paolo Centurioni and Alfredo Fiorentini. He then turned to the baroque violin and the corresponding repertoire, his teachers in this field being Enrico Parizzi and Luigi Mangiocavallo. He has been active both as a soloist and as concertmaster in numerous ensembles, such as: "Le Concert des Nations" under Jordi Savall, the "Accademia Bizantina", the "Concerto Italiano", with Il Giardino Armonico, the "Concerto Vocale Gent" under René Jacobs, the Collegium 1704 or the "Ensemble 415" under Chiara Banchini. Among the important musicians with whom he has performed are Enrico Onofri, Viktoria Mullova, Albrecht Mayer, Christophe Coin, Sergio Azzolini or Reinhard Goebel. 

He has also worked as a conductor with several renowned ensembles, including the Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Ensemble Resonanz, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble or the "Helsinki Baroque Orchestra", of which he has been 1st Kapellmeister since 2008. In 2007 he founded the chamber music ensemble "Musica Antiqua Roma", with which he performs works of the 17th and 18th century. One focus is on the forgotten Roman composers from this period. Minasi was principal conductor of the ensemble Il pomo d'oro from its founding in 2012 until 2015. The new orchestra won awards with its first recording - Vivaldi's L'imperatore - and in its founding year also edited solo albums by countertenors Max Emanuel Cenčić, Franco Fagioli and Xavier Sabata, as well as an album of Venetian barcarole. Since 2013, the ensemble has made guest appearances in major houses throughout Europe, such as the Theater an der Wien, Paris, Munich, London, St. Petersburg, Zurich and Barcelona. 

In December 2016, Riccardo Minasi was appointed principal conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, succeeding Ivor Bolton. In September 2018, Minasi began his tenure as "Artist in Residence" of Ensemble Resonanz at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie for two seasons. This collaboration has since been extended until 2024. Many of the more than 20 CD recordings in which he has participated as a soloist have received record awards. The recording of Heinrich Ignaz Biber's Rosary Sonatas took part as an album in the final round of the Midem Classical Award for 2009. 

Riccardo Minasi has enjoyed an intense musical collaboration with the Orchestra La Scintilla since 2015, which led to his appointment as artistic director in January 2022. Together with La Scintilla he has realized numerous concert projects and, among others, the highly acclaimed CD with the "Four Seasons" by Vivaldi and Verdi. 

see also: www.riccardominasi.com

ricvitabildenalt

Interview with Riccardo Minasi

(german only) from "MAG 88", January 2022, © Opernhaus Zürich



THE ENSEMBLE


The cultivation of historical performance practice has been a tradition at Zurich Opera House for many decades. In the 1970s Nikolaus Harnoncourt first caused a national sensation in the field of early music with his Monteverdi cycle; in the 1980s he continued his work at Zurich Opera House together with the director Jean Pierre Ponnelle with Mozart (including Idomeneo, Lucio Silla, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro). Harnoncourt did further pioneering work and the musicians of the Zurich Opera Orchestra adapted their playing technique to the latest findings of historical performance practice. From this continuum, the orchestra of the Opera, now the Philharmonia Zurich, evolved into an independent ensemble of first-class specialised musicians, which was able to establish an excellent reputation. The spark that ignited the enthusiasm for new early music gave the ensemble its name: Officially founded in 1998, the ensemble gave itself the name La Scintilla - The Spark. In the years that followed, performances with luminaries of the field such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, William Christie, Mark Minkowski, Reinhard Goebel, Giuliano Carmignola, Giovanni Antonini and Ottavio Dantone were so successful that the Zurich Opera House has all Baroque operas and, increasingly, works from the Classical period performed by this ensemble. Outside the opera house, La Scintilla regularly performs in the major concert halls and gives concerts with renowned soloists, instrumentalists and singers such as Cecilia Bartoli, Rolando Villazon, Andreas Scholl and others. In 2014, the orchestra received the Echo Klassik Music Prize in the category "Opera Recording of the Year" (19th century) for its recording of Norma with Giovanni Antonini and Cecilia Bartoli. Among the works released on CD and DVD are Mozart arias with Juan Diego Florez, Norma and La sonnambula with Cecilia Bartoli, Orlando and Iphigénie en Tauride with William Christie, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Since the 2018/19 season, La Scintilla has been working closely with violinist and conductor Riccardo Minasi on a concert series at Zurich Opera House. The musical arc spans from the early symphonic beginnings in Italy to the great masters of the Baroque, George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach, to the sounds of the early Giuseppe Verdi.

Together with the Zürcher Singakademie, La Scintilla also organises the series "Les Concerts", whose main focus is on the sacred repertoire with choir.

see also: Zürcher Singakademie



THE MUSICIANS


Concert masters



Ada Pesch has been principal concertmaster of the Zurich Opera House Orchestra since 1990. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she began playing the violin at age six and subsequently went on to study with world-reknowned pedagog Josef Gingold at the University of Indiana. During this time she also performed in masterclasses with Arthur Grumiaux and Gyorgy Sebök. In 1984 Ada Pesch moved to Europe to become concertmaster with the Hof Symphony Orchestra, and in 1990 was named first concertmaster of the Orchestra of the Zürich Opera House, working with conductors such as Ricardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnanyi, John Eliot Gardiner and Franz Welser-Möst.
She is founding member and concertmaster of "Orchestra La Scintilla," the period-instrument ensemble of the Zürich Opera House with whom she regularly performs and records with early music pioneers including Nikolaus Harnoncourt, William Christie and Marc Minkowski. In fall of 2005 she led the "Orchestra La Scintilla of Zürich Opera" on a highly successful North American and european tour with Cecilia Bartoli.
Ada Pesch has appeared as guest concertmaster with "Les Arts Florissants" (William Christie) and "Les Musiciens du Louvre" (Marc Minkowski) for concerts, live radio broadcasts and CD recordings. Her chamber music collaborations are many and varied, including projects with Cecilia Bartoli in Luzern and Salzburg Festivals. She is also director of the Baroque Music Festival in Ernen, Switzerland, which she founded in 2004.


Hanna Weinmeister was born in Salzburg. She studied violin with Prof. Bruno Steinschaden in Salzburg, with Prof. Gerhard Schulz in Vienna, with Prof. Zachar Bron in Lübeck and is a prize winner of several international competitions (1994 International Mozart Competition Salzburg, 1995 Jaques Thibeaud Competition and 1995 Parkhouse Award in London). After her studies she was assistant leader of the English Chamber Orchestra in London and since 1998 she is first concertmaster at the Zurich Opera House. In addition to her work with the orchestra, she is also in demand as a soloist and chamber musician, performing in Europe, Asia and the USA. She is a member of the Tetzlaff Quartet, the Konzerthaus Octet, the Krenek Ensemble and the Trio Weinmeister and has been a guest at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Salzburg Festival, the Ittinger Whitsun Concerts, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Festival Spannungen in Heimbach and the Kunstfest Weimar. The 1st violin concerto, by E. Krenek, the double concerto by J. Brahms and quartets by J,.Sibelius, A. Berg, A. Schönberg and F. Mendelssohn have been released on CD. Currently she is intensively engaged in baroque violin and historical performance practice, inspired by her work with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Giovanni Antonini at the Zurich Opera House. Since 2014 she is a member of the orchestra "La Scintilla".


Monika Baer studied with Robert Zimansky at the Conservatoire de Musique in Geneva, from which she graduated with a soloist diploma. Her interest in the baroque violin already began in her student years, and she went on to pursue postgraduate study with John Holloway at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden. During years spent as an interim member of the first violin section in Zurich Opera Orchestra, she became familiar with the working practices of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie and Marc Minkowski.
From 1999-2005 Monika was concertmaster of Kammerorchester Basel. There she worked regularly with musical personalities like Christopher Hogwood, Giovanni Antonini and Giuliano Carmignola, and made numerous CD recordings.
Alongside her active chamber music career, she performs in festivals including the Ludwigsburger Festspielen, the Erner Barockmusikwochen and Boswiler Sommer.
As a founder member of Orchestra La Scintilla, she accompanies Cecilia Bartoli in Europe and America's most prestigious concert halls.
Monika lives in Zurich where she is a professor of baroque violin and chamber music at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. She is also in demand as a chamber music partner and concertmaster by various ensembles. Furthermore, she spent 12 years on the Stadt Zurich Music Commission, was a committee member of the Forum Alte Musik Zürich, and appeared regularly as an expert on the radio programme Diskothek im 2 on SRF2.

Violin 1:

Jonathan Allen
Susanne von Bausznern
Franziska Eichenberger
Juliana Georgieva
Lisa Gustafson
Janet van Hasselt
Ulrike Jacoby
Seraina Pfenninger
Regula Schär
Mikolai Tomaszewski
Fanny Tschanz
Marina Yakovleva-Häfliger

Violin 2:

Maya Kadosh, Solo
Anahit Kurtikyan, Solo
Yuko Arakaki
Cornelia Brandis
Juliana Georgieva
Lisa Gustafson
Janet van Hasselt
Ulrike Jacoby
Daniel Kagerer
Anne-Frédérique Léchaire
Wen-chun Lin
Sibylle Matzinger
Ursula Meienberg

Viola:

Karen Forster, Solo
Nada Anderwert
Maria Clément
Stella Mahrenholz
Rumjana Schamlieva
Mirjam Töws

Violoncello:

Claudius Herrmann, Solo
Alexander Gropper
Barbara Oehm
Xavier Pignat
Andreas Plattner
Seiji Yokota

Double Bass:

Dariusz Mizera, Solo
Ruslan Lutsyk

Flute:

Rebekka Brunner
Rute Fernandes
Claire Genewein
Andrea Kollé

Oboe:

Philipp Mahrenholz, Solo
Maria Alba Carmona
Astrid Knöchlein

Clarinet:

Rita Meier, Solo
Robert Pickup, Solo
Filipa Sagramento

Bassoon:

Urs Dengler, Solo
Anne Gerstenberger, Solo
Elisabeth Göring
Artan Hürsever

Horn:

Tomas Gallart
Andrea Siri

Trombone:

Sergio Zordan

Timpani/ Percussion:

Hans Peter Achberger