Francesca Torelli
Biography Francesca Torelli
Francesca Torelli
is considered among the best Italian interpreters of lute music of her generation.
After earning a degree in lute with the highest marks at the Conservatory of Verona under the guidance of Orlando Cristoforetti, Francesca Torelli completed her studies with Nigel North at the Guildhall School of Music in London. At the same time, she studied renaissance and baroque singing with Auriol Kimber.
From the beginning, her concert activities have featured the repertoires for voice and lute (singing while accompanying herself on the instrument), as well as the solo repertoire for lute and theorbo and basso continuo. Since 2000 she also has performed as a director of early music ensembles.
As a soloist, she has participated in numerous festivals in Europe, South America and Australia.
She has provided and played the music for various theatrical productions and has appeared as a lutenist on television programs for RAI 2, Channel 4, and others.
Francesca has recorded for the labels Tactus, Dynamic, Stradivarius, Mondo Musica and Nuova Era, with the ensembles Cappella Artemisia, Sans souci, Cappella Palatina, Accademia Farnese and the chamber orchestra Offerta Musicale of Venice. She has also recorded for the national Italian radio RAI Radiotre, WDR and other European radio and television networks.
She has also collaborated with the orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Vivaldi ensemble of the Solisti Veneti, Il Ruggiero, Accademia degli Astrusi, Capella Regiensis.
Francesca has made two solo recordings (on Tactus) with music by Pietro Paolo Melli and Alessandro Piccinini (reprint Brilliant 2011) and the albums John Dowland: Lute songs, lute music (2010) , Musique pour le Roy-Soleil: Robert de Visée works for theorbo (2013), Italian Baroque Music for Archlute (2017), Le Dialogue: Charles Mouton Lute suites (2021) for Magnatune. All this recordings received great appreciation from the press.
In 2006 A tutor for the Theorbo, an handbook written by Francesca Torelli went out for Ut Orpheus editions. This is the first and only method published in the world dedicate to this instrument.
She is the founder and director of the ensemble Scintille di musica with whom she has recorded six CD for the Futuro antico series on EMI and Lungomare, featuring the voice of Angelo Branduardi. These recordings are about Sixteenth and Seventeenth century Italian music: Mantova, la musica alla corte dei Gonzaga; Venezia e il Carnevale; Musica della Serenissima; Roma e la festa di San Giovanni; Il Carnevale romano; Musica alla corte dei Principi-Vescovi.
Francesca has directed the Milano Conservatorio’s early music ensemble Andromeda in performances of Baroque oratorios (Kapsberger, de Rossi, Carissimi) theatrical works (Purcell) and concerts productions.
She has taught lute at the conservatories of Bari and Vicenza and has held seminars and master classes at numerous Universities and musical institutions.
Since 2001 she is lute professor at the “GiuseppeVerdi” Conservatory in Milan, where she is currently also director of the Early Music Institute.
