Ensemble Zefiro & Alberto Grazzi
Biography Ensemble Zefiro & Alberto Grazzi
Zefiro Ensemble
According to Greek mythology, ZEFIRO was the tender and kind God of the Western Wind.
In 1989, the oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi, and the bassoonist Alberto Grazzi, members of the most outstanding baroque orchestras, founded ZEFIRO, a versatile music group specialising in the eighteenth-century repertoire that gives particular prominence to wind instruments.
Since then, ZEFIRO has performed at many major European festivals, including those of Amsterdam, Aranjuez, Barcelona, Bonn, Geneva, Graz, Helsinki, Innsbruck, London, Liege, Lyons, London, Malmö, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Potsdam, Prague, Ravenna, Regensburg, Rome, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Stresa, Utrecht and Vienna. They have also played in Israel, Egypt, Japan, Korea, USA, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil and have always received enthusiastic responses from both audiences and the press.
In 1999 ZEFIRO has realized a documentary-film on Antonio Vivaldi for the Belgian broadcasting company RTBF. ZEFIRO’s recordings include the six Sonatas for two oboes and bassoon by Jan Dismas Zelenka, the complete works for wind ensemble of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and their own arrangements for 12 winds and a double bass of excerpts from the three Mozart operas to librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte, Concertos for oboe, bassoon and strings and Concerti per vari strumenti by Antonio Vivaldi as part of the project by Opus/Naïve for the complete recording of Music by this composer from the University Library of Turin.
The ensemble has also rehabilitated two remarkable composers of the late eighteenth century, Georg Druschetzky and Luigi Gatti, and its recording of Handel’s Water Music and Telemann’s Wassermusik has established ZEFIRO’s reputation also as a Baroque orchestra. More recent recordings include wind music by L.v.Beethoven, the Divertimenti for winds and strings by W.A.Mozart, “The Musick for the Royal Fireworks” by G.F.Handel and “Concerti & Ouverture” by J.F.Fasch all published to the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/Sony Music label.
Alberto Grazzi
studied the bassoon at Reggio Emilia and Milan, where he graduated in 1987 under Prof. V. Bianchi.
In 1985 he was invited to join the 'European Baroque Orchestra' and from then on he has been active, both as an orchestral player and as a soloist, in most of the important European orchestras such as 'London Baroque', 'Concentus Musicus Wien', 'The English Baroque soloist', and 'Le Concert des Nations'. He has been a member of 'Il Giardino Armonico', and since 1990 he has been principal bassoon of 'The English Concert', directed by Trevor Pinnock, with which he has recorded several concertos.
Together with his brother Paolo and Alfredo Bernardini he founded Ensemble Zefiro in 1989, an ensemble devoted to rediscovering and performing wind repertoire from the 18th Century.
He has founded in his native Mantua the 'Associazione Ensemble ZEFIRO' which promotes and rediscovers early music for winds, with particular attention to Italian composers connected with the Mantuan region.
He teaches baroque bassoon at the 'Scuola Civica di Milano' and at the Conservatory 'E. F. Dall'Abaco' in Verona, as well as in summer courses in Urbino and Innsbruck and for the foundation 'La Caixa' in Spain. He holds regular masterclass in Italy and abroad.
As a soloist he has recorded for Teldec, Astrée-Auvidis, Astrée-Naive and DG-Archiv.
When he is not on tour he lives in his home town Mantua, which he does not want to leave, with a beautiful daughter and a loving and very patient wife.
