Orchestra Zefiro
According to Greek mythology, Zefiro was the tender and kind God of the Western Wind. In 1989, the oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi, and the bassoonist Alberto Grazzi, members of the most outstanding baroque orchestras, founded Zefiro, a versatile music group, specialized in that repertoire of the 18th's Century in which wind instruments are in the foreground.
Zefiro has performed at important European festivals (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Geneva, Helsinki, Innsbruck, Lione, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Graz, Prague, Regensburg, Salzburg, Stresa, Utrecht, Vienna, etc.), in Israel and in Cairo receiving always positive response from audiences and press. Recent tours have included South America and Japan.
Recordings of the six sonatas of Zelenka and of music for wind ensemble by Mozart, both for the French label Astrèe/Auvidis, have been awarded with various international prizes, including the Grand Prix du Disque, and make of Zefiro a world-wide reference for this repertoire. With more recent recordings for the label Ambroisie, Zefiro has rehabilitated unknown remarkable composer from the late 18th Century such as Georg Druschetzky and Luigi Gatti.
In 1999 Zefiro has been chosen by the Belgian television to film a documentary on Antonio Vivaldi. Latest recordings include the water music by Handel and Telemann and own arrangements of Mozart operas for wind ensemble, both published on the Ambroisie label, as well as a disc of "Concerti per vari strumenti" by Vivaldi as part of the project by Opus/Naïve for the complete recording of Music by this composer from the University Library of Turin. Coming recordings include wind music by Beethoven and Instrumental pieces by J.F. and C.F.C. Fasch.
Zefiro's activity is divided into three formations: chamber ensemble, wind group ("Harmonie") and baroque orchestra to cover a vast part of the baroque repertoire from Vivaldi concertos to Handel operas, from Bach cantatas and Haydn masses to wind music by Mozart, Rossini and Beethoven.
Marcello Gatti, recorder
Gabriele Cassone & Luca Marzana, trumpet
Alfredo Bernardini & Paolo Grazzi, oboe
Dileno Baldin & Francesco Meucci, horn
Alberto Grazzi, bassoon
Mauro Lopes, Isabella Bison, Cecilia Bernardini, Hedwig Raffeiner, Renata Spotti, Laura Mirri, Ulrike Fischer & Alessandro Di Vona, violin
Stefano Marcocchi & Ayako Matsunaga, viola
Gaetano Nasillo & Sara Bennici, violoncello
Giancarlo De Frenza, double bass
Anna Fontana, harpsichord
Evangelina Mascardi, theorba & baroque guitar
