Contrasto Armonico

Contrasto Armonico is an orchestra which focuses on early music, especially music composed in the Italian style.

It was founded in 2004 by Marta Semkiw and Marco Vitale (musical director), and established with the support of De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek. The birth of the orchestra was celebrated in Delft (NL) with two productions of Handel operas: “Siroe, Re di Persia” and “Lotario”.

The aim of Contrasto Armonico is to go back to the roots of the HIP “Historically Inspired Performance”, doing front-line research, advancing the boundaries of early music performance practice. HIP as “work in progress”, a philosophy instead of a consolidated tradition.

The orchestra is constituted of professional musicians from all over the world who share the same ideals and feelings for the Early Music performance practice, using copies of original instruments, historical pitches and transpositions, keeping as a goal the intention to get as close as possible to the style and aesthetic of the work performed.

Contrasto Armonico started a recording project of Handel vocal works in Italian language; the first CD was released in 2008 by Brilliant Classics, with the serenata “Aci, Galatea e Polifemo”.

The upcoming recording projects with the Dutch label Brilliant Classics are: the oratorio “La Resurrezione” and the complete Italian cantatas by G. F. Handel.