Italian harpsichordist and conductor Ottavio Dantone is the new music director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. He will occupy the post from 2024 to 2028, during which time the Accademia Bizantina, which Dantone has conducted since 1996, will be Orchestra in Residence.
Dantone will partner with Eva-Maria Sens, who inherits the post of artistic director from Alessandro De Marchi, who served from 2010 to 2023.
Dantone is one of the foremost champions of Baroque period performance. He was the first Italian harpsichordist to win prizes for basso continuo at the International Competition in Paris, and then in the International Competition in Bruges in 1985 and 1986, respectively. He first collaborated with the Accademia Bizantina in 1989, becoming its music director in 1996, and within "a few years established its reputation as one of the best-known and most accredited Baroque music ensembles with period instruments on the international scene."
"The first Festival under new leadership is always particularly exciting," said Innsbruck mayor Georg Willi. "Given the artistic-musical quality of the team at the helm of the Festival, we will rediscover musical gems and experience some surprising moments in 2024-in original sound and excellently presented and interpreted. Over the years, the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music has not only found its way into the hearts of Early Music fans but has also become the calling card of the music city of Innsbruck."
The 48th festival kicks off on August 6 with Francesco Bartolomeo's Il trionfo della Fama. Taking part in the inaugural concert, besides the Accademia Bizantina, are La Stagione Armonica, and NovoCanto, and mezzo-soprano Sophie Rennert, contralto Benedetta Mazzucato, countertenor Nicolo Balducci, tenor Martin Vanberg, and baritone Riccardo Novaro.
In a video, Dantone mentioned a desire to give more emphasis to historical composers associated with Innsbruck, and to bring in more young performers to Period Performance. He also talked about the possibility of new methods to bring out emotion in Early Music. He is not too bound by period research, however: "What I like most," he said, "is being able to go beyond the intentions of the composer while having the deepest respect."
