Luca Pianca lute
Born in Lugano, Switzerland, the lute player and conductor Luca Pianca studied music in Milan and Salzburg (with Nikolaus Harnoncourt). Since 1982 he has been collaborating with with Concentus Musicus Wien on regular basis.
He was one of the co-founders of Il Giardino Armonico, a leading period ensemble specializing in Italian Baroque and has collaborated as one of its core members with singers such as Eva Mei, Christoph Prégardien, Georg Nigl, Marie-Claude Chappuis, and Cecilia Bartoli, and instrumental soloists including Viktoria Mullova and Albrecht Mayer, who has acknowledged Luca Pianca as his “musical brother”.
He often appears in duo with the viol virtuoso Vittorio Ghielmi and the Russian violinist Dimitri Sinkovsky, touring regularly in Europe and the USA.
As a soloist and basso continuo player he has appeared at some of the most prestigious festivals and venues, such as for example the Salzburg Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, MITO SttembreMusica, Wiener Festwochen, Deutsche Philharmonie, Theater an der Wien, Wigmore Hall, Lucerne Festival, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall in New York, and Oshi Hall in Tokyo.
On the invitation of Sir Simon Rattle, Luca Pianca has performed Bach’s St John Passion with Berliner Philarmoniker.
He has recorded over 70 CDs, including complete works for lute by J. S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. His recordings have been awarded prestigious prizes such as Gramophone Classical Music Award, Choc du Monde de la Musique, Echo-Preis, Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, and Diapason D’Or – five times, the latest one in 2018 for a CD “Anime Amantii” recorded in duo with the Italian soprano Roberta Mameli).
Since 2008, Luca Pianca has conducted the Bach cycle at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, performing the complete Bach Cantatas with his own Ensemble Claudiana and the Wiener Sängerknaben, involving internationally renowned singers and young talented musicians: over 100 Cantatas have been performed so far.
Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and St John Passion have been among Luca Pianca’s important achievements. He has also collaborated with the rock star Sting.
