GiovanniAntonini
- Conductor


About Giovanni
Conductor: Il Giardino Armonico
Giovanni Antonini is renowned for his refined and innovative interpretations of Baroque & Classical repertoire. He is a regular guest with Berliner Philharmoniker, Concertgebouworkest, Tonhalle Orchester, Mozarteum Orchester, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, London Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
His opera productions have included Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto and Bellini’s Norma with Cecilia Bartoli at Salzburg Festival. In 2018 he conducted Orlando at Theater an der Wien and returned to Opernhaus Zürich for Idomeneo. In 2019 he conducted Guilio Cesare for La Scala, returning there in 2021 for Così fan tutte and he opens the 24-25 season with Orontea.
He continues the season with return visits to Berliner Philharmoniker, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich and Bamberger Symphoniker in addition to projects with Il Giardino Armonico and Kammerorchester Basel.
He is Artistic Director of the Haydn2032 project, recording and performing with Il Giardino Armonico and Kammerorchester Basel the complete symphonies of Haydn by the time of the 300th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The first fifteen volumes have been released on the Alpha Classics label with two further volumes planned every year.
Contact
For availability and general enquiries:

Melanie Moult
For contracts, logistics and press:

Fiona Russell
Representation
Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt (excl. Spain)
Partner management:
Spain - Duetto Management
Season Highlights
Video
- Playing
Haydn 2032
Giovanni Antonini talks about his project ‘Haydn 2032’ which explores Haydn’s music on a deeper level, for his 300th anniversary. The project includes period performances and recordings of all Haydn’s 107 symphonies with Il Giardino Armonico and Kammerorchester Basel. Credit: Blackblitz
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2
Kristian Bezuidenhout performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Kammerorchester Basel, conducted by Giovanni Antonini. at the Menuhin Festival Credit: Kammerorchester Basel
Haydn: Symphony no. 80
Giovanni Antonini conducts Kammerorchester Basel in Haydn Symphony No. 80 in D minor Credit: Haydn2032
News
Press
Haydn 2032 Vol 13 " Hornsignal"
RecordingFeb 2023Brought exuberantly to life by Il Giardino Armonico, directed by Giovanni Antonini...There is a delight in revealing the detail and plenty of lingering over the slower beauties of the writing. Fizz and energy never far away thought and it's some of the most exhilarating Haydn around at the moment. BBC Radio 3 Record Review
- BBC Radio 3 Record Review
- 10 February 2023
Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico dispatch it [Symphony no. 48] with as much excitement as any version I’ve heard, and find in it a deal more light and shade than most other recordings...Vol 13 is another undoubted triumph.
- Gramophone Magazine
- 01 January 2023
Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin
Konzerthaus BerlinDec 2021Beethoven's Lautmalereien werden dabei nicht zu Effekten verkürzt. Noch das Gewitter bleibt eingebettet in einen organischen, stetigen Puls, ein mal expressives, mal fein nuanciertes Landschaftspanorama. Schönheit und Schock, die Macht der Liebe, die Zerstörungsgefahr... ein utopischer Abend
- Die Tages Spiegel
- 19 December 2021
Haydn 2032 Vol 10
RecordingJul 2021The music is delightful anyway, particularly in Symphony No 6, “Le Matin”. But everything gains an extra kick and lilt in these airily magnificent performances from Antonini’s ensemble Il Giardino Armonico. The playing is weighted to perfection: light and rhythmically bouncy without being dainty or manic.
- The Times
- 28 July 2021
Chicago Symphony
Chicago Symphony CenterJun 2018Uncommonly sensitive to fine degrees of dynamics throughout the concert, Antonini crouched low on the podium to draw exquisite pianissimos from the orchestra in the quieter moments of the Drum Roll... Haydn’s music took on renewed character and charm in this intimate perspective. I, for one, may never want to go back to hearing big-orchestra Haydn again.
- Chicago Tribune
- 08 June 2018
Haydn 2032 Vol 5
RecordingJan 2018The suave No. 81 comes off particularly well, while No. 80, one of Haydn's most eccentric creations, is played straight and comes of all the more witty for it.... This is another winning entry into Antonini's Haydn discography... in which direction will this compelling and tantalising slow-burn series turn next?
- Gramophone Magazine
- 08 January 2018
Il Giardino Armonico
Barbican Centre LondonMay 2014From many points of view, Antonini and his historically informed ensemble matched her approach to a nicety; their playing offered character without excess, and their tone substance without heaviness. All their accompaniments were vividly sketched, though they really came into their own in two concerti grossi by Handel and another by his London-based Italian colleague, Francesco Geminiani.
- The Guardian
- 08 May 2014
Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig
Gewandhaus LeipzigMar 2011The title La Passione [Symphony in F minor /Haydn] was taken literally by the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Giovanni Antonini: Various forms of passion were certainly experienced by the audience….In the presto one last gasp: Giovanni Antonini energetically built up the storm. He coaxed the orchestra’s threatening swelling tremolos, then slowed down again in the melancholy triumphs in the fight against the awesome drama.
- Leipziger Volkszeitung
- 21 March 2011
Discography
- Haydn 2032 vol 15: La Reine
- Concertos
- Locatelli: Il Virtuoso, Il Poeta
- Haydn 2023 Vol.14: L'Imperiale
- Haydn 2023 Vol.13: Horn Signal
- Haydn 2032 Vol.12: Les jeux et les plaisirs
- Haydn 2032 Vol.11: Au Gout Parisien
- Haydn 2032 Vol.10: "les heures du jour"
- Haydn 2032 Vol. 9: L'Addio
- Haydn: Die Schöpfung
- What's next, Vivaldi?
- Vivaldi: Concerti per Flauti
- Haydn 2032 Vol.8: La Roxolana
- Farinelli
- La Morte della Ragione
- Haydn 2032 Vol 7: Gli Impresari
- Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
- Haydn2032 Vol.6 "Lamentatione"
- Haydn 2032 Vol.5 "L'homme de genie"
- Mozart: Violin Concerti
- Haydn 2032 Vol.4 "Il Distratto"
- Telemann: Pour la flute a bec et les chalumeaux
- Haydn 2032 Vol.3 Solo e Pensoso
- Beethoven Triple Concerto
- Haydn 2032 Vol 2: Il Filosofo
- Haydn 2032 vol 1: La Passione
- Revolution
- Beethoven Symphonies 7&8
- Bellini - Norma
- Beethoven Symphony no. 5 & 6
- Beethoven Symphonies 3 & 4
- Beethoven Symphonies 1 & 2