Gramophone's Orchestra of the Year Award is the only Gramophone Classical Music Award decided by public vote. The 10 orchestras nominated this year are: Academy of Ancient Music, Accademia Bizantina, Bamberger Symphoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, The Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Philharmonia Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

This week, we focus on Accademia Bizantina ...

Introduction

Founded to play ‘like a large string quartet’, Accademia Bizantina, under the musical guidance of Ottavio Dantone since 1996, has become a force to be reckoned with in the field of Baroque music. At home in the opera house as much as on the concert stage, this superb Italian ensemble has recently given us its first production on its own label, Handel’s Rinaldo. David Vickers wrote that the ‘band’s playing juxtaposes vigour and precision’ while, reviewing a Vivaldi violin concertos album with the orchestra’s leader as soloist, Charlotte Gardner commented that Accademia Bizantina ‘are finely nuanced, nimbly and tightly together, and revel gently in the music’s delicacy. Their continuo is especially magical.’

Recommended Albums

Handel Rinaldo

Soloists; Accademia Bizantina / Ottavio Dantone

‘Accademia Bizantina launches its own label with a live recording of a production staged in Como by OperaLombardia. The theatre acoustic is excellent, the sound engineering has immaculate clarity of detail, the band’s playing juxtaposes vigour and precision, and a predominantly Italian cast act their roles extrovertly ...’ (David Vickers)

Read the review in the Reviews Database

Vivaldi Violin concertos

Tampieri; Accademia Bizantina / Ottavio Dantone

‘Accademia Bizantina are finely nuanced, nimbly and tightly together, and revel gently in the music’s delicacy. Their continuo is especially magical – for instance, the way Dantone daintily fans out his final flourish at the end of RV371 in B flat’s first movement, or the deliciousness with which the archlute occasionally rises above the texture in the same concerto’s final Allegro and that of RV273 in E minor ...’ (Charlotte Gardner)

Read the review in the Reviews Database

Accademia Bizantina Playlist

Enjoy recent highlights from the Accademia Bizantina in our exclusive Apple Music playlist.

Apple Music offers a three-month free trial to new subscribers and with its vast catalogue of recordings – plus the addition of lossless audio and Spatial Audio, offering an immersive audio experience from 44.1kHz/16-bit (CD quality) up to 192kHz/24-bit – it is the perfect music streaming platform for anyone who loves classical music. Find out more and start your free trial here: Apple Music 

Listen to all of the Orchestra of the Year playlists on Apple Music: Orchestra of the Year 2021

Vote for the Accademia Bizantina

You can cast your vote for Gramophone's Orchestra of the Year 2021 either using the voting form below or by following this link: 2021 Orchestra of the Year Vote

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