Guido Balestracci
Professor of Viola da Gamba - Ornamentation
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Guido Balestracci was born in Turin in 1971. He discovered the viola da gamba at the age of five within his family environment. After completing his studies at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, he began a faithful collaboration with musical personalities such as Paolo Pandolfo and Jordi Savall, performing alongside them and contributing to numerous recordings.
In 1997, he founded the ensemble L’Amoroso to explore the viola da gamba repertoire more personally and to highlight the different instruments of this family. The recording programs "Consonanze Stravaganti," followed by "Seconde Stravaganze" and the transcription of Corelli's Opus V for viola da gamba, are considered pioneering works in the revival of the Italian repertoire for viols and have been awarded by international critics (Diapason d’or, 10 de Répertoire, Prix Goldberg, Premio Vivaldi della Fondazione Cini, Eccezionale de Scherzo, Choc du Monde de la Musique...).
Passionate about research, Guido Balestracci is interested in rare instruments, such as the baryton, as evidenced by a CD dedicated to Haydn's trio Divertimenti, released in 2011.
His interest in the Classical and Romantic periods, particularly for the arpeggione, of which he is one of the few current performers, also falls within this domain. He performs in concerts featuring a program dedicated to the transcription of the Romantic repertoire around Schubert's "Arpeggione" Sonata, which he recorded in 2019.
Since the end of 2021, Guido Balestracci has also been responsible for the research project "Le Vibrato entre 1770 et 1820: un agrément à redécouvrir," which he conducts at the HEM of Geneva in collaboration with Elizabeth Dobbin and Paolo Corsi and in partnership with the CRR of Paris.
He holds the position of professor of viola da gamba and 18th-century ornamentation at the HEM of Geneva and at the CRR of Paris in collaboration with PSPBB and Sorbonne University.
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