Biography
The French ensemble I Giardini regularly constructs programs that juxtapose works by familiar composers with pieces by their more obscure contemporaries, drawing heavily on 19th-century repertoire while also embracing new music and providing accompaniment for vocalists. Cellist Pauline Buet and pianist David Violi established the group and continue to serve as its artistic directors. Although the two often concentrate on duo repertoire for cello and piano, they regularly augment the ensemble with additional players chosen to suit the demands of particular scores; among those collaborators are violinists Guillaume Chilemme, Pierre Fouchenneret, and Liana Gourdjia, violinist-violist Hélène Maréchaux, violists Marie Chilemme, Shuichi Hokada, and Léa Hennino, and bassist Laurene Durantel. As the musicians themselves have stated, "I Giardini takes its inspiration from the sheer variety of musical sonorities, and the capacity of its team of artists to reveal a unique Romantic universe of living performance." On stage the group has frequently set music by figures such as Fauré and Schumann alongside works by their lesser-known peers, among them Ernest Chausson and Philippe Hersant. The ensemble joined the Alpha roster and made its first recording in 2020, supporting soprano Véronique Gens on the album Nuits; the release received a Diapason d'Or award that same year and earned a nomination at the Victoires de La Musique awards in 2021. I Giardini has performed at prominent French locations including the Musée d'Orsay, Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, and the Arsenal de Metz, as well as abroad. Buet and Violi reappeared on Alpha in 2022 with the recording Bleu, devoted to music by Chopin and Poulenc. Later that year the ensemble issued Caroline Shaw: The Wheel, containing pieces by Shaw that I Giardini had commissioned in 2021. Funding for the commission came from Music Strasbourg, the Montpellier Opera, Lieu Unique Nantes, Musique Rive Gauche Paris, and the Face Foundation in New York, while Mécénat Musical Société Générale and La Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations rank among the group’s principal sponsors. I Giardini has additionally commissioned works from composer Josephine Stephenson.
Albums
