La Risonanza

Since its establishment in 1995, the ensemble La Risonanza has distinguished itself among Italy’s foremost exponents of historically informed performance across both vocal and instrumental repertoires. Harpsichordist, organist, and conductor Fabio Bonizzoni, who earned his diploma at the Hague Conservatory under Ton Koopman, created the group and continues to direct it. La Risonanza has performed in virtually every significant Italian concert series, undertaken international tours, and appeared at prominent early-music festivals in Utrecht, Bruges, Cuenca, Versailles, and Saint Michel en Thiérache. Its roster centers on roughly fifteen instrumentalists yet remains adaptable, expanding when required to incorporate choral forces for larger-scale pieces.

A substantial share of the ensemble’s global recognition stems from its extensive and critically acclaimed discography, issued predominantly on the Spanish Glossa label. Handel’s Italian compositions form the core of this output; in 2007 the musicians inaugurated a project to record every Italian-language cantata by the composer, organizing each volume according to the original dedicatee or occasion. The first installment received the Stanley Sadie Handel Recording Prize, while the 2011 release Apollo e Dafne earned a Gramophone Award, and later volumes have collected comparable distinctions. Additional projects have explored works by Haydn, Giuseppe Sammartini, Barbara Strozzi, Luigi Rossi, Johann Caspar Kerll, and Girolamo Frescobaldi. The cantata series extended through the middle of the 2010s and was supplemented by further recordings of smaller Italian chamber pieces by Handel. In 2016 La Risonanza and soprano Raffaela Milanesi released a recording of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, one of the ensemble’s rare excursions outside Italian repertoire; two years later the group embarked on a new cycle of Bach keyboard concertos performed with single instruments per part and Bonizzoni at the keyboard.