Andrea De Carlo

Considered today the architect of the rediscovery and diffusion of the music of Alessandro Stradella (1643-1682), Andrea De Carlo was born in Rome where he began his musical career as a jazz and classical double bass player, graduating at the same time with honors in physics at the University "La Sapienza" in Rome.

After collaborating as first double bass with various orchestras such as the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Orchestra Regionale Toscana and the Orchestra Regionale del Lazio, he approached the viola da gamba, soon making it his main instrument and playing with important international ensembles of early music.

In 2005 he founded the Ensemble Mare Nostrum EMN, which immediately became characterized by its original interpretative approach to the vocal and instrumental repertoire, the result of original research on the relationship between language, phonetics, gestures, physics of sounds, affections and emotions.

With the Ensemble Mare Nostrum he has performed in important international festivals such as TAGE ALTER MUSIK HERNE (Germany), DE BIJLOKE, Gent (Belgium), Festival Internacional de UBEDA Y BAEZA (Spain), MAISON DE RADIO FRANCE, Paris (France), Festival Internacional de MUSICA SACRA DI QUITO (Ecuador), ACADEMIE BACH Arques-la-Bataille (France), Festival di SAINT MICHEL EN TIERRACHE, (France), Festival de SABLÉ (France), Festival Internacional CERVANTINO (Mexico), the Festival of FONTDOUCE (France), Festival "CONCERTES D'ÉTÉ A SAINT GERMAIN (Switzerland), Festival "LES NUITES BAROQUES" of Le Touquet (France), TAGE ALTER MUSIK HERNE (Germany), Festival IZMIR (Turkey), I CONCERTI DEL QUIRINALE (Italy), Festival NOITES DE QUELUZ (Portugal), STOCKHOLM EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL (Sweden), Festival ZAMEK KROLEWSKI of Warsaw (Poland), LES CONCERTS DE L'HOSTEL DIEU (France).

Mare Nostrum's many recordings include: J.S. Bach, Orgelbüchlein (MA Recordings) in an original orchestration that was applauded with the "Diapason Découverte" (2011); Le Concert des Violes (Ricercar) awarded 5 Diapason (2010) and Coup de Coeur in 2010 by the Charles Cros Academy in Paris, Nueva España (Alpha, 2012), an anthology of Spanish and Mexican music from the Renaissance to modern times. Since 2012 the ensemble's recordings have turned to the Roman Baroque. In collaboration with the vocal ensemble Vox Luminis, he has released a CD, Il Concerto delle Viole Barberini (Ricercar), followed by Occhi belli, occhi neri, a disc of recently discovered cantatas by Marco Marazzoli (Arcana).

In 2013 De Carlo began "The Stradella Project", a series of CDs for the Arcana label. The first release is the world premiere recording of Stradella's serenade, "La forza delle stelle" (5/5 Diapason), followed in 2014 by the world premiere recording of the oratorio "S. Giovanni Crisostomo" (5/5 Diapason), in 2016 by the world premiere of the oratorio "S. Editta, vergine e monaca, regina d'Inghilterra" (5/5 Diapason). In 2017 the oratorio "S. Pelagia" (5/5 Diapason) was released and in 2018 the Stradella opera "La Doriclea" with the ensemble Il Pomo d'Oro, for which Andrea De Carlo, as conductor, received the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik. The recording received huge critical acclaim and was recognized as Album of the Month, May 2019, by "Classic Voice". In 2020 he published the work "Il Trespolo tutore" (Diapason Découverte) and in 2022 the recently discovered unknown work by A. Stradella "Amare e Fingere". The latest recording, "An Angel of Paradise" (2024) dedicated to the figure of the castrato soprano Marcantonio Orrigoni, is acclaimed by international critics receiving, among others, the prestigious Editor's Choice award from the English magazine Gramophone and Le Swag from the French magazine Forumopera.

In 2018 De Carlo conducted the ARTURO TOSCANINI PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA of Parma with a program dedicated to G. F. Haendel and J. P. Rameau; in 2020 he began a collaboration with IL TEATRO CARLO FELICE DI GENOVA directing the inauguration of the 2020/21 opera season with the opera Il Trespolo Tutore by A. Stradella directed by Paolo Gavazzeni and Piero Maranghi, the sets by Leila Fteita and the costumes by Nicoletta Ceccolini, followed in 2021 by the oratorio S. G. Battista by A. Stradella with his Ensemble Mare Nostrum and the orchestra of the Theater. In March and May 2022 he conducts the orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice for two concerts of the series "MOZART L'ITALIANO" with a program of instrumental music by A. Stradella, A. Scaratti and two symphonies by W. A. Mozart, and in October 2022 I CAMERISTI DELLA SCALA in Milan in a concert entirely dedicated to the vocal and instrumental music of Alessandro Stradella. In October 2023 he conducted his Ensemble Mare Nostrum in Alessandro Stradella's Il Barcheggio serenade for the inauguration of the 2023-24 season of the TEATRO CARLO FELICE DI GENOVA, and in November 2024 he conducts I CAMERISTI DELLA SCALA again in a concert at the Duomo di Milano dedicated to vocal and instrumental music by A. Stradella, H. Purcell, G. F. Haendel and B. Bartok.