Ensemble Scaramuccia
was founded on the initiative of the violinist and musicologist Javier Lupiáñez. It debuted at the fringes of Bruges and Utrecht festivals in the summer of 2013 and met with a very positive reception from the audiences and organizers. Since then, the ensemble has gained reputation within the European Early Music scene, often praised for its uniqueness. Among other festivals and venues, Scaramuccia has performed at Internationaal Kamermuziek Festival Utrecht – Janine Jansen and Friends, Kasteelconcerten and Musica Antica da Camera (The Netherlands), Fora do Lugar, Encontros de Música Antiga de Loulé Francisco Rosado and Sente a História (Portugal), Festival Internacional de Arte Sacro de Madrid and Teatro Kursaal de Melilla (Spain), Museum Vleeshuis and Philarmonie de Namur (Belgium), Maldon Festival of Arts (United Kingdom) as well as Festival Echi Lontani (Italy).

In its zeal to discover new music, Scaramuccia had the privilege of being the first ensemble to have attributed the RV 820 and the RV 205/2 to Vivaldi and performing both pieces as a world première in an interview and a live concert broadcast in the programme De Musyck Kamer of the Dutch radio station Concertzender in the summer of 2014. These works, together with other lately-discovered pieces by Vivaldi for violin and basso continuo, were recorded for Ayros in 2015 as part of the ensemble’s first album.

Scaramuccia was awarded the Audience Prize in the Göttinger Reihe Historischer Musik 2015/2016 competition.

The ensemble is currently working on “The Cabinet II Project”, which will take the Listeners on a journey to Dresden, following the footsteps of the great Konzertmeister Johann Georg Pisendel and rediscovering his manuscripts preserved in Schrank II. The project includes a broad range of elements, such as unearthing the musical works, live performances, publishing sheet music and musicological texts as well as CD recordings.

1717. Memories of a Journey to Italy, released in 2018, is the first disc of the series. It has been acclaimed by reviewers all over Europe and nominated for the 2019 ICMA Awards. The second album of the series, Pisendel. Neue Sonaten, has been released in winter 2020. Both albums were launched with the ensemble’s own recording label: Snakewood Editions.