La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler & Tabea Debus
Biographie La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler & Tabea Debus
Tabea Debus
Described by The Times as a charismatic virtuoso, Tabea Debus is constantly exploring the horizons of music for recorder and has performed widely in Europe, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and the USA. Highlights include concerts at Wigmore Hall, Brecon Baroque, LFBM and YEMF, and collaborations with La Serenissima, The English Concert, Rachel Podger and Laurence Cummings. Having been Meaker Fellow for 2016-17, 2016 CMF Artist and SJSS Young Artist 2015-16, she was selected by YCAT in May 2018. She has appeared on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune and Early Music Show and released three solo discs, most recently XXIV Fantasie per il Flauto in 2018
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). His ‘electrifying playing’ and ‘real richness of sound’ (Classical Music) have captivated listeners for over 25 years.
Adrian founded La Serenissima in 1994, whilst a student of Rodney Friend at the Royal College of Music, channelling his love affair with Vivaldi into a lifetime’s mission. With La Serenissima, he has performed a host of recitals, concertos and operas for major festivals including Bruges, Buxton, Cheltenham, Lake District Summer Music, Lichfield, Spitalfields and York, as well as for concerts in Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Mexico and Spain. His performances have been broadcast by BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, Scala Radio and by radio stations throughout the world.
Adrian has driven La Serenissima’s ambitious and highly acclaimed recording work, creating an extensive catalogue encompassing music by Albinoni, Bach, Brescianello, Caldara, Corelli, Dall’Abaco, Legrenzi, Locatelli, Lotti, Montanari, Navarra, Pisendel, Porta, Sammartini, Scarlatti, Tartini, Telemann, Torelli, Valentini, Vandini, Veracini, Vivaldi and Composer X. These recordings have been widely praised through repeated award nominations, regular focus from specialist and broadsheet press and radio, and frequent rave reviews. He has had the honour of accepting two Gramophone Awards in the ‘Baroque Instrumental’ category for La Serenissima’s albums The French Connection (2010) and The Italian Job (2017).
The Arts and Humanities Research Council awarded Adrian a fellowship at Southampton University to research the development of the North Italian violin concerto 1690 – 1740; this research culminated in the release of the third album in La Serenissima’s North Italian Violin Concerto series. He subsequently held a two-year post at Southampton as Turner Sims Professor. During the 2020 UK lockdown, Adrian edited a Vivaldi violin concerto daily: the campaign reached fans, musicians, scholars and Vivaldi enthusiasts across the globe via social media and will form the basis of a future publication on Vivaldi’s violin method.
Adrian has been guest director/soloist with a range of other groups throughout his career, demonstrating great versatility in working with musicians using both period and modern instruments; for the 2020-21 Season he has been invited to direct projects for Concerto Copenhagen in Denmark and Deutsche Philharmonie Merck in Germany.
La Serenissima
Founded in 1994 by violinist Adrian Chandler, La Serenissima is now recognised as the UK’s leading exponent of the music of eighteenth century Venice and connected composers. Uniquely, we present world-class musical performances in concert and recording where all the research and editorial work is our own. Described by Gramophone Magazine as having ‘a glorious and all-too-rare ability to make one’s pulse race afresh with every new project’ we have been praised for our ‘fresh approach’ (BBC Music Magazine), ‘dazzling inventiveness’ (The Strad Magazine) and singled out for our ‘difference in attack’ from other orchestras (The Independent).
We delight in bringing great baroque music to the widest possible audience through our trademark mix of ‘blockbuster’ musical works and unknown gems; through live performances, talks and workshops; and through our recordings which are available to all. We’ve championed a plethora of neglected works by composers ranging from Dall’Abaco to Composer X and have also brought to life Vivaldi’s operas Catone in Utica, Giustino, La Fida Ninfa, L’Olimpiade, Ottone in villa and Tito Manlio.
La Serenissima has appeared at many of the UK’s leading festivals including the Bath Bach, Bath International, Beverley, Buxton, Cambridge Summer, Chelsea, Cheltenham, Lichfield, Ryedale, South Bank, Warwick and York Early Music, and at venues including Bridgewater Hall, St George’s Bristol, Snape Maltings, Cadogan Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall. We have given concerts for Music in the Round and leading cultural tours operator Martin Randall Travel; we have also received support from Arts Council England for UK touring projects Vivaldi: The Red Priest and The Four Seasons. We have performed abroad in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Mexico and Spain to great acclaim. During 2016/17 we completed our first ever residency at St John’s Smith Square entitled The Grand Tour which incorporated six ground-breaking programmes of music from the Italian States.
Since we started making records (in 2003), La Serenissima has been universally applauded by publications including American Record Guide, BBC Music Magazine, Diapason, Falstaff Magazine, Fanfare Magazine, Gaudisc, Goldberg Magazine, Gramophone Magazine, La Stampa, The Evening Standard, The Guardian, The Independent, The Irish Times, The Strad and The Sunday Times for our performances on the Avie Label. We won Gramophone Awards in the ‘Baroque Instrumental’ category in 2010 for Vivaldi: The French Connection, and in 2017 for The Italian Job. Our recordings have regularly made the Top 10 of the UK Specialist Classical Chart, received frequent award nominations, been featured as ‘Disc of the Month’ and ‘Concerto Choice’ (BBC Music Magazine), ‘Editor’s Choice’ (Gramophone Magazine), ‘Drive Discovery’ (Classic FM) and on BBC Radio 3 programmes ‘Record Review’ and ‘Building a Library’. Part of the follow-up album to our first ever record Per Monsieur Pisendel has been used on the soundtrack to hit American TV series The Originals.
