Ensemble Locatelli

Ensemble Locatelli
Founded in 2014 Ensemble Locatelli is an early music group based in Bergamo, Italy.

Its formation goes from chamber music settings to a full baroque orchestra. The name of the Ensemble is a tribute the virtuoso violinist Pietro Antonio Locatelli, whose 250th death anniversary occurred in 2014.
Driven by a great passion for research and historical performance practice, the group works constantly to make music from past centuries accessible to today's audiences.
Ensemble Locatelli goes against the trend of the cultural crisis in Italy: at a time when orchestras are closing down and it is increasingly difficult to carry on activities, Ensemble Locatelli has managed to consistently offer high quality products over the years in a completely autonomous manner, increasing the level of cultural proposals and the number of performances from year to year. In a context where the so-called 'brain drain' from Italy is becoming increasingly frequent, Ensemble Locatelli has managed to become a pole of attraction in which some of the best Baroque musicians of the new generation collaborate.
Ensemble Locatelli is performing actively in Italy and Europe, and was invited for several tours in France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019; performing in important festivals and venues (Sagra Malatestiana di Rimini, Settimane Barocche di Brescia…).
In 2022, the Ensemble was invited to perform at the Konzerthaus Wien for the Festival Resonanzen.
Among the most important production in the last years: Membra Jesu Nostri (Buxtehude), The Fairy Queen (Purcell), Dido and Aeneas (Purcell).
The discographic effort from the Ensemble already produced two CD: “Trio sonate op.V” from Locatelli (Classicadalvivo, 2015) and “Per la Sig.ra Geltruda” (Panclassics, 2020). In the next years more projects are on the way presenting first recordings of works by Torelli and Ferronati.
The Ensemble Locatelli project, a real "musical start-up", is continuously growing, and given the increase of the group's activities, in 2019 "Associazione Pietro Antonio Locatelli" was founded.
Thanks to this Association, the Ensemble can present every year its own Season of concerts in Bergamo inviting prestigious conductors and soloists to collaborate (V. Luks in 2021 with the Brandenburg concertos, Ensemble Concerto di Margherita in 2021, V. Makarenko with “Le quattro Stagioni” in 2022); as well as several pedagogic activities such as masterclasses, courses, school projects.
From 2019 Ensemble Locatelli starts a collaboration with the Cappella Musicale della Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, conducted by M° Cristian Gentilini, as the instrumentalist partner of the vocal Ensemble of the Basilica.
In 2020 Ensemble Locatelli, during the COVID-19 emergency, the Pietro Antonio Locatelli association raised funds for the Bergamo Hospital by offering a digital download of the live album "Highlights of the 2019 season" in exchange a donation, managing to donate over €10,000 for the city hospital.
The Ensemble's artistic and musical director is Thomas Chigioni.

Jérémie Chigioni, violin
Thomas Chigioni, Cello and Artistic direction
Giulio Tanasini, Double-Bass
Mauro Pinciaroli, Archlute
Arianna Radaelli , Harpsichord