La Serenissima

Since its establishment in 1994, La Serenissima has earned recognition as one of the leading historical-performance ensembles both within the U.K. and internationally. Combining rigorous scholarly research with performances that remain engaging for wide audiences, the ensemble has attracted mainstream attention, including exposure on American television.

The name La Serenissima derives from the historic title of Venice, formally known as La Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia. The group initially concentrated on Antonio Vivaldi and fellow Venetian composers before expanding its scope, while preserving a distinctive emphasis on how Baroque music developed within that particular locale. It originated as a temporary ensemble assembled for a 1994 reading of Vivaldi’s infrequently performed trio serenade La Senna festeggiante, RV 693. Its artistic director, violinist Adrian Chandler—a Merseyside native and Royal College of Music alumnus trained in both modern and Baroque techniques—launched the project while still completing his studies.

The ensemble’s debut recording, Per Monsieur Pisendel, appeared in 2003 and spotlighted works by the violin virtuoso and composer Johann Georg Pisendel, with Chandler serving as soloist. Although it frequently draws on manuscript sources to present lesser-known repertoire, La Serenissima has also issued more familiar pieces, such as an English edition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons violin concertos in 2016. Between 2006 and 2008 it released a trilogy of albums tracing the emergence of the northern Italian violin concerto, followed in 2009 by Vivaldi: The French Connection, which explored the composer’s reception in France. The group has toured extensively throughout Britain and abroad, performing at such halls as Bridgewater Hall, Sage Gateshead, and Wigmore Hall. It maintained a residency at St. John’s Smith Square titled “The Grand Tour” and participated in festivals, among them the 2017 Vivaldi in Venice Festival.

Alongside its scholarly projects, La Serenissima has produced recordings intended for broader listenership, including Venice at Night in 2012. Its second Pisendel collection, Per Monsieur Pisendel 2 (2014), was featured in the American television series The Originals. In 2017 the ensemble issued The Italian Job, a program of virtuoso concertos drawn from multiple Italian centers. The following year’s Vivaldi x2, devoted to Vivaldi double concertos, reached the top of Britain’s classical sales charts and was named album of the week by the crossover station Classic FM. In 2019 La Serenissima transferred to Signum Classics with The Godfather: Masters of the German & Italian Baroque, then released Extra Time, a set of Baroque discoveries originally slated for earlier projects. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the ensemble remained productive, issuing six further Signum Classics albums between 2021 and 2023 that presented little-known and newly recovered Baroque works; the 2023 release An Englishman Abroad: Nicola Matteis the Younger and the English Style in 18th Century Europe exemplifies this series.