Claudio Astronio
Harpsichord
A versatile musician, he combines activity as a soloist on organ and harpsichord with conducting, and leads the ensemble “Harmonices Mundi,” performing on period instruments. He has been a guest soloist and conductor with various international orchestras, including the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, and performs concerts and recitals in prestigious venues and festivals across Europe, Canada, the USA, South America, and Japan.
He has collaborated with artists such as Emma Kirkby, Gustav Leonhardt, Gemma Bertagnolli, Susanne Rydén, and Yuri Bashmet.
In 2007 he made his operatic conducting debut with Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, in a production directed by Graham Vick. He has also conducted Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Bach’s St Matthew Passion in a staged version with choreography by Ismael Ivo. He has collaborated with choreographer Henri Oguike on a work based on Domenico Scarlatti’s harpsichord sonatas.
He has recorded for the label Stradivarius and currently records for Brilliant Classics. His discography includes over 50 CDs, awarded numerous distinctions (Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Fanfare, Amadeus “Record of the Month”), and praised by major international music magazines such as Gramophone, Diapason, Le Monde de la Musique, Fanfare, El País, and others.
He recorded the world premiere complete works of Antonio de Cabezón for organ and harpsichord, as well as the complete keyboard works of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach in six CDs, which received a Grammy nomination.
He has given masterclasses and courses at institutions including Oberlin College, Boston College, the Tokyo Conservatory, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, the Royal Conservatory of Madrid, the Conservatory of Valencia, and has been a guest professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Royal College of Music in London.
He has conducted the orchestra of the Royal College of Music in London and has been, since 2016, the only external member of the PhD board for harpsichord and early keyboard studies at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.
He has also worked in film, appearing in Zoroastro, le lettere di Casanova (Bliq Film, directed by Gianni Di Capua) and as lead actor in La corda spezzata, a film about Alessandro Stradella directed by Francesco Leprino.
His artistic interests include jazz and cross-genre collaboration. He won the Recanati Prize for songwriting twice (1996 and 1997), worked with Banda Osiris, and collaborates regularly with jazz artists Maria Pia De Vito, Paolo Fresu, Gianluigi Trovesi, and Michel Godard.
He was artistic director of the youth orchestra Orchestra THERESIA and is artistic director of the Festival Antiqua within the Bolzano Festival Bozen. A former board member of REMA (Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne), he teaches harpsichord and historical keyboards at the Conservatorio di Trapani.
