The Baroque orchestra Modo Antiquo is regarded as one of the leading ensembles on the international early music scene. Founded by Federico Maria Sardelli, Modo Antiquo brings together specialists in Baroque music who share a taste for instrumental virtuosity and an in-depth knowledge of historical performance styles and languages. With its specific approach to performance of Italian Baroque music, and of Vivaldi in particular, Modo Antiquo has established itself as a benchmark ensemble in this field.
Under the baton of Federico Maria Sardelli Modo Antiquo appears regularly at major international festivals and concert halls. Its discography of more than forty titles includes many world première recordings, among them the complete Cantatas of Vivaldi and the same composer’s complete Concertos for Transverse Flute, a reconstruction of Corelli’s Concerti Grossi Op. VI with additional wind parts, and Vivaldi’s Paris Concertos.
Modo Antiquo is the only Baroque ensemble to have received two Grammy Awards nominations, the first was for its recording of Vivaldi, Concerti per molti istromenti, voted one of the five best international CDs of 1997, and the second for Corelli’s Concerti Grossi Op. VI in 2000.
Modo Antiquo is deeply involved in the revival of Vivaldi’s operas and has given the first modern-day performances of the operas Arsilda Regina di Ponto, Orlando Furioso, Tito Manlio, Motezuma, and Atenaide. In 2005 the ensemble gave, in the concert hall of de Doelen, Rotterdam, the world premiere of Motezuma, rediscovered after 270 years.
Modo Antiquo is one of the leading ensembles in the French label Naïve; among the recent recordings are Concerti di sfida with Anton Steck, the first modern-day performance of the opera Atenaide, the collection of Vivaldi New Discoveries, etc. Modo Antiquo records also for Deutsche Grammophon, with whom recently produced a CD with Handel Opera Arias.
Very recently, Glossa releases the world’s first recording of the «Lost Concertos for Anna Maria», where six spectacular concerts that Vivaldi dedicated to his favorite pupil live again, thanks to an exclusive reconstruction.
Federico Maria Sardelli
Conductor, composer, musicologist and flautist. In 1984 Federico Maria Sardelli founded the Baroque orchestra Modo Antiquo, with which he appears at major festivals and concert halls throughout Europe as both soloist and conductor. He is regularly invited to the most prestigious European concert halls. Since 2006 he has been principal guest conductor of the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra. He appears as a guest conductor with many symphony orchestras, including the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Halle, the Kammerakademie Potsdam,the Real Filarmonia de Galicia, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino,the Arena di Verona, the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, etc.
Federico Maria Sardelli records for Naïve and Deutsche Grammophon. He has made more than forty recordings as soloist and conductor, some of them in co-production with the German broadcast company Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WRD 3). He has twice been nominated for the Grammy Awards, the most prestigious recording prize, and he is one of the top artists of the Vivaldi Edition by Naïve.
Federico Maria Sardelli has been a notable protagonist in the Vivaldi renaissance of the past few years: he conducted the world premiere recording and performance of the operas Arsilda Regina di Ponto, Orlando Furioso, Tito Manlio, Motezuma, and Atenaide.
Alongside his career in the concert hall, he is also extremely active as a musicologist. He is a member of the musicological committee of the Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi, and has published many musicological essays and critical editions (he is the author of the study Vivaldi’s Music for Flute and Recorder, translated by Michael Talbot and published in the UK by Ashgate). He is general editor of the collection of facsimile editions Vivaldiana and of the Opere Incomplete (SPES, Florence). Peter Ryom has chosen him to be the person in charge of the continuing Vivaldi Catalogue (RV).
For his artistic merits, on 28th november 2009, the Government of Tuscany decorated Federico Maria Sardelli with the Gonfalone d’Argento, the highest medal of honour.
His next book on music is forthcoming: the Catalogue of Vivaldi’s musical concordances, by Fondazione G. Cini and Olschki.
Federico Maria is also a painter, engraver and satirical writer, but that is another story.
