Equally accomplished on modern and Baroque violin, Giuliano Carmignola is highly regarded for his broad repertoire which encompasses Baroque, Romantic, Classical, and twentieth-century works.

Carmignola’s career began with awards at the ‘Premio Città di Vittorio Veneto’ in 1971 and the Paganini Competition in Genoa in 1973. He quickly secured his status as a leading soloist under Claudio Abbado, Eliahu Inbal, Peter Maag and Giuseppe Sinopoli, appearing at the Royal Albert Hall, La Scala, Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonie, and Tchaikovsky Hall. Additionally, he served as concertmaster at Teatro La Fenice from 1978 to 1985, toured extensively with I Virtuosi di Roma, and gave the Italian premiere of the Dutilleux violin concerto. In subsequent years, his focus broadened to include Baroque performance on period violin at festivals including Aldeburgh, Ambronay, Bruges, Lucerne, Vienna, Brussels, Salzburg, and Istanbul, and in concerts worldwide, notably at Amsterdam, Tokyo, Berlin, New York, Frankfurt, Paris, London, and Montreal.

Carmignola today enjoys a diverse career, with repertoire ranging from Vivaldi, Beethoven and Mendelssohn to Debussy, Stravinsky and Schnittke. In 2004, Carmignola and Claudio Abbado began a three-year project to perform the Mozart concertos with Orchestra Mozart in Bologna. Other engagements in 2004 included performances with Les Violins du Roy (under Bernard Labadie), the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (under Ton Koopman), the Tonkünstler Orchester Neiderösterriech, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and a USA tour with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, featuring Vivaldi for the inaugural season at Disney Hall. Prior to this, career highlights included his debuts at the Boston Early Music Festival, the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and the BBC Proms in London.

Carmignola first directed The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) in October 2003 in a programme of Vivaldi and Tartini which was rapturously received by the London press. The Evening Standard wrote: ‘Carmignola’s brilliant technique and infectious showmanship make him the equal of any violinist, Baroque or not. The AAM offered variety in spades ... and they exchanged smiles as lavishly as interpretative ideas.’ Since then, he has appeared with The AAM as soloist in Mendelssohn’s violin concerto (conducted by Christopher Hogwood) at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and London’s Barbican; directed a programme of Italian Baroque concertos at venues across the UK, including the Wigmore Hall; in 2006 he directed an all-Mozart programme on tour across Europe and the USA and in 2006-2007 season will present a Vivaldi programme with the AAM.

Carmignola recently signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, and has since recorded a collection of Tartini, Locatelli, and Vivaldi violin concertos. He will follow with Bach’s complete solo sonatas and partitas. His discography on Sony Classical includes five recordings with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, including two albums of previously unrecorded Vivaldi concertos, The Four Seasons, the complete Bach sonatas for violin and harpsichord (with Andrea Marcon), and a collection of Locatelli violin concertos. For his recordings, Carmignola has been awarded Germany’s Echo Prize and the Diapason D’Or.

A native of Treviso, Italy, Carmignola began his studies with his father and graduated from the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello in Venice where he studied with Luigi Ferro. He attended master classes with Nathan Milstein and Franco Gulli at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and with Henryk Szeryng at the Geneva Conservatory. A professor of violin at the Venice Conservatory for ten years, he was appointed professor of violin at the Lucerne Hochschule in 1999, and is currently a professor of music at Siena’s Accademia Musicale Chigiana. He frequently collaborates in recital with pianists Yasuyo Yano, Bruno Canino and Andrea Lucchesini, cellist Mario Brunello, and violists Bruno Giuranna and Danilo Rossi.

In the performance of Baroque music, Carmignola plays a 1739 Floreno Guidantus. For music of periods other than the Baroque, he plays a 1733 Pietro Guarneri.