La Serenissima

La Serenissima is the UK’s leading exponent of the music of eighteenth-century Venice. Praised for its ‘all-too-rare ability to make one’s pulse race afresh with every new project’ (Gramophone), La Serenissima has uncovered a plethora of neglected music, making it available to all through live performance, recording and outreach. Uniquely, the group’s entire repertoire is edited from source material.
Founded in 1994 by violinist Adrian Chandler, La Serenissima is recognised for its outstanding recording catalogue, which is regularly featured on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and international radio; advertising (Beats, 2022) and film (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2020). The group has won two Gramophone Awards: for The French Connection (2010) and The Italian Job (2017); in 2018 Vivaldi X2 topped the UK Classical Chart. Their 2022 release Vivaldi’s Women, featuring the World Premiere of a concerto discovery, was praised by BBC Radio 3 Record Review as ‘a fine contextual album’ and attracted over a million streams in its first weeks of release; Forza Azzurri! featured in the UK Classical Chart and captured imaginations in the Italian press with radio24 interviewing Adrian Chandler in Italian in December 2022.
La Serenissima performs across the UK and internationally. It has given the first UK performance of Brescianello’s opera Tisbe (2018) and the modern premiere of Caldara’s opera Lucio Papirio Dittatore (2019). The group embarked on new digital formats in 2021 with support from the Culture Recovery Fund & Continuo Foundation. This created new videos aimed at Key-Stage 2 children and the launch of a podcasting series Lost & Found.
La Serenissima looks forward to a residency at Wigmore Hall in 2024-25 and performances throughout the UK and beyond. La Serenissima is proud to have as its Honorary Patron, His Excellency The Italian Ambassador to the UK.