Biography
Driven by his passion for the Italian vocal repertoire of the 18th Century, Giulio Prandi founded in 2003 the Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri he regularly conducts in the major European concert halls and festivals: Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Teatro alla Scala, BOZAR Bruxelles, Ambronay, Chaise-Dieu, Oude Muziek Utrecht, Enescu Festival
of Bucharest, Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen, Monteverdi Festival of Cremona, Festival della Valle d’Itria. Besides his activities with Ghislieri, Giulio Prandi has consolidated his activity as a conductor, collaborating with orchestras and musical institutions such as I Cameristi della Scala, Filarmonia Arturo Toscanini, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Fondazione Arena di Verona, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.
In 2019 he is Artist in residence at the Festival Oude Muziek of Utrecht, dedicated to the Neapolitan repertoire. He is the Artistic Director of the Centro di Musica Antica della Fondazione Ghislieri in Pavia, awarded the 2019 “Premio Abbiati” by the Association of Italian Music Critics for “best musical initiative” in Italy.
Giulio carries out a constant research activity which, over the years, has led to the rediscovery of many rare and unpublished works by authors such as Galuppi, Jommelli, Perez, Perti, Durante, Astorga, Leo. He also dedicates himself continuously to the great masterpieces of Vivaldi, Pergolesi, Handel, Joseph and Johann Michael Haydn, Mozart and Rossini. He is the winner of the 2022 International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in the category Choral Music with the world premiere based on period instruments of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle he recorded with his Coro Ghislieri for Arcana (Outhere Music) and which he continues to present in major European venues.
For the same label, Giulio has recorded the world premiere of both the Mass in D major and the Motet Dignas Laudes Resonemus by Pergolesi, as well as Niccolò Jommelli's Requiem – both releases were awarded the “Diapason découverte” – and more recently the album “Mozart in Milan” devoted to Mozart’s famous motet Exsultate, jubilate with unpublished works by Johann Christian Bach, Melchiorre Chiesa and Gianandrea Fioroni.
Giulio Prandi’s discography also includes several CDs for Sony (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi) in which he was able to propose the fruits of his research on Baldassarre Galuppi, Niccolò Jommelli and Davide Perez, as well as a live recording dedicated to the Roman period of Handel.
Additionally, he has published three albums dedicated to Perti, Jommelli and Handel (Dixit Dominus and Messiah) distributed by the Italian magazine Amadeus which, in 2017, devoted the commemorative number of its 25th anniversary to him. His past highlights include his debut at La Scala where he conducted the Cameristi della Scala and the Coro Ghislieri for a programme including works by Pergolesi, Durante and Vinci, a new production of Rameau’s Les Incas du Pérou with La Toscanini for the Sagra Malatestiana Festival, a new production of Grétry’s Andromaque at Opéra de Saint-Etienne, a Bel Canto recital starring Maria Grazia Schiavo at Opéra Grand Avignon and Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso at Teatro Filarmonico di Verona. He recently debuted at the Teatro Massimo di Palermo conducting the Orchestra Nazionale Barocca dei Conservatori for works by Mozart, Jommelli and Zingarelli. Recent and future engagements include a new production of Mozart’s Apollo et Hyacinthus in Malta, the creation of the opera De bello gallico by Nicola Campogrande for the Teatro Pergolesi di Jesi and Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste. Giulio Prandi will record a new Vivaldi CD he will present with his Ghislieri Orchestra at Amsterdam Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Bozar Bruxelles and deSingel Antwerp.
