Adrian Chandler & La Serenissima
Biography Adrian Chandler & La Serenissima
Adrian Chandler
Born on Merseyside in 1974, Adrian Chandler is recognised internationally as a leading interpreter of Italian baroque music with an ‘avant-garde approach that would have awed Hendrix’ (The Guardian). Adrian was introduced to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the age of ten via a live recording by Iona Brown and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields: the experience resulted in a lifetime’s dedication to Italian baroque music.
Known for his determination to share knowledge and a passion for great baroque music – whether celebrated, under-performed or unknown – Adrian’s commitment to broadening musical horizons is matched only by his formidable technique and powerful expression as a violinist. His charismatic addresses to audiences in concert and writing have been widely remarked on and he’s been praised by Gramophone Magazine for the ethos he has created: ‘a scholarly attitude to programming and performance style which is yet worn with light grace’.
Whilst a student at the Royal College of Music under violinist and pedagogue Rodney Friend, Adrian founded La Serenissima with whom he has performed multiple recitals and concertos, and directed in an array of imaginative programmes at high-profile UK venues (from Bridgewater to Wigmore halls) and abroad for major festivals (from Belgium to Mexico) and prestigious concert series (from Denmark to Spain).
Adrian has driven La Serenissima’s ambitious and highly-acclaimed recording work, creating an extensive catalogue encompassing 15 albums of music by Albinoni, Caldara, Corelli, Legrenzi, Locatelli, Lotti, Montanari, Navarra, Pisendel, Porta, Sammartini, Tartini, Torelli, Valentini, Veracini, Vivaldi and Composer X. These recordings document Adrian’s unique editorial and research activities which make La Serenissima’s output so special, and have been widely praised through repeated award nominations, regular focus from specialist and broadsheet press, BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM, frequent rave reviews and two Gramophone Awards in the ‘Baroque Instrumental’ category (2010 and 2017).
Adrian’s trailblazing career has included directing six Vivaldi operas from the violin for La Serenissima in performances for organisations including Bath International Festival, Buxton Opera House, London’s Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music and Eilat Festival (Israel). In 2016 he gave a marathon of three full concert programmes (including 11 solo concertos) in 24 hours at the Valetta International Baroque Festival. He also curated the ensemble’s first ever residency The Grand Tour at St John’s Smith Square, London (during 2016/17) which explored a range of music from the Italian states and featured the modern-day premiere of Caldara’s Christmas Cantata Vò piangendo.
As guest soloist, Adrian has toured The Four Seasons with the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and given performances of Mozart and Beethoven sonatas in Japan. As guest director and soloist, highlights include playing Bach and Vivaldi in the Oslo Chamber Music Festival and touring The Four Seasons with the Norwegian Wind Ensemble. In 2019 he will make his debut directing Concerto Copenhagen in a series of concerts in Denmark.
Adrian was awarded a three year Arts and Humanities Research Council fellowship in 2006 at Southampton University to research the development of the North Italian violin concerto between 1690 and 1740. The culmination of this project was the release of La Serenissima’s third CD in the Rise of the North Italian Violin Concerto series. Adrian has since completed a two-year post as a Turner Sims Professor at the University of Southampton.
La Serenissima
Established in 1994, La Serenissima is recognised as the UK’s leading exponent of the music of eighteenth century Venice and connected composers. Uniquely, the group’s entire repertoire is edited from manuscript or contemporary sources, and it has been praised for its ‘glorious and all-too-rare ability to make one’s pulse race afresh with every new project’ (Gramophone Magazine). Hailed by The Guardian as ‘presenting an avant-garde approach that would have awed Hendrix’, La Serenissima has become synonymous with virtuosity, dynamism and accessibility, uncovering a plethora of new repertoire and making it available to all through live performance, high calibre recording work, education and outreach initiatives.
Since its first release on the Avie label in 2003, La Serenissima’s recordings have been applauded by numerous publications and have attracted multiple award nominations; Vivaldi: The French Connection won the 2010 Gramophone Award for Baroque Instrumental. Their hotly-anticipated interpretation of The Four Seasons was released in 2015, reaching Number 8 in the UK Specialist Classical Chart and featured as Editor’s Choice (Gramophone Magazine) and Concerto Choice (BBC Music Magazine) amongst a multitude of rave reviews. Their latest release The Italian Job has been praised on BBC Radio 3’s Record Review and on Classic FM as ‘Drive Discovery’, it has reached the Top Ten in the UK Specialist Classical Chart and won the 2017 Gramophone Award for Baroque Instrumental in the ceremony’s 40th Anniversary year.
La Serenissima has performed internationally to great acclaim; recent highlights include concerts at Bridgewater Hall, Sage Gateshead and Wigmore Hall, and festivals Sablé, Swansea and Valetta. During 2016-17 the ensemble gave its first residency The Grand Tour at St John’s Smith Square, performing little-known works by Brescianello, Caldara and Dall’Abaco amongst other jewels of the Italian baroque; the group gave three outstanding performances with choir and soloists at Martin Randall’s Vivaldi in Venice Festival in 2017.
La Serenissima is proud to have the support of the group’s first Honorary Patron, His Excellency The Italian Ambassador.
