Federica Bianchi
She began piano studies at the age of eight, graduating brilliantly under the guidance of Prof. Gea D’Atri. From 2001 she approached early music and devoted himself completely to the study of the harpsichord, graduating in 2005 with honors and honorable mention at the Conservatory of Florence under the guidance of Prof. A. Conti. In the same year, at the University of Florence, she graduated in Philosophy with honors. She perfected herself in harpsichord, continuo and historical keyboards with Gordon Murray at the Universitaet fur Musik in Vienna and obtained the Master cum Laude at the Conservatorium Van Amsterdam under the guidance of Bob Van Asperen and Richard Egarr. Recognized as one of the great talents of her generation, she is the winner of some of the most prestigious international competitions dedicated to Early Music: first prize and special jury prize at the international harpsichord competition “G.Gambi” in Pesaro, first prize at the “Goettingen Haendel Competition ”, Weichlain prize at the “Biber International Competition”, third prize at the European harpsichord competition “P. Bernardi” of Bologna. First Italian harpsichordist selected as harpsichordist and organist by the European Baroque Academy of Ambronay (2008), and by the European Baroque Orchestra 2009 (EUBO) she has worked with some of the greatest interpreters of Baroque music such as P. Mullejan, L.U. Mortensen, E. Onofri, J. Tubery, E. Higginbottom. She has collaborated and collaborates as a soloist and continuist with ensembles such as Il Giardino Armonico, Il Pomo d’Oro, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Imaginarium Ensemble, L’arte dell’Arco, European Baroque Orchestra, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Spira Mirabilis, Auser Musici, La Fonte Musica and with artists such as Marc Minkowski, Enrico Onofri, Giovanni Antonini, Franco Fagioli, Joyce DiDonato, Vivica Genaux, Max Cencic, Stefano Montanari, Philippe Jarousski, Maurice Steger, Simone Kermes, Riccardo Minasi, Karina Gauvin, Federico Guglielmo, performing as soloist and continuo player in the most prestigious concert halls, Musikverein Vienna, Konzerthaus Berlin, Melk Barocktage, Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, MAFestival Bruge, Kanazawa Japan Concert Hall, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Paris Salle Gaveaux, Opera Royale Versailles, Wigmore Hall and Barbican Theater London , National Auditorium Madrid, Theater des Champs -Elysèes Paris etc.
Since 2012 she has undertaken a research path on late medieval music with the ensemble La Fonte Musica (Diapason D’Or 2017 and 2019), deepening its historical practice through the study of keyboards such as the clavicymbalum and the gothic organ
She has made countless recordings for major international labels such as Decca, Deutsche Grammophone, Sony DHM, Erato, Warner, Alpha, Arcana, Glossa and Brilliant Classic, many of which have been awarded Diapason D’Or, Echo Classic and Grammy awards.
Peppe Frana
Passionate about rock from overseas and across the Channel at a young age, he soon became the nightmare of the best electric guitar teachers in the area.
At the age of twenty he was struck by the interest in non-European modal music through the music of Ross Daly and undertook the study of the Turkish oud and other plectrum chordophones during frequent trips to Greece and Turkey, where he frequented some of the most renowned masters: Yurdal Tokcan, Omer Erdogdular, Murat Aydemir, Daud Khan Sadozai, Ross Daly himself.
From the meeting with the members of the Ensemble Micrologus arises the interest in the music of the European Middle Ages and in the plectrum lute, of which he soon becomes one of the most appreciated soloists and teachers, specializing in the fourteenth-century Italian repertoire.
From 2013 to 2015 he studied medieval lute at the Schola Cantorum Basilensis under the guidance of Crawford Young, inaugurating his first experience of academic music study.
He graduated with honors in philosophy at the “L’Orientale” University Institute of Naples.
He collaborates on a regular basis with many artists and musical projects in the field of early, oriental and non-cultured music and carries out a thriving concert activity all over the world.
He is the artistic director of Labyrinth Italia
