Pianist and harpsichordist, founder of “Concerto Italiano” ensemble, Rinaldo Alessandrini is conducting since over twenty years the ancient music repertoire, specializing in the Italian one, trying to restore expressiveness and “cantabilità” of Italian style of XVII-XVIII centuries. He is a guest of worldwide festivals in the USA, Canada, Japan and Europe.

As a regular guest with the “Concerto Italiano” ensemble, he has led acclaimed performances in Utrecht (Oude Muziek Festival), Rotterdam, Antwerpen, London (Lufthansa Festival, Queen Elisabeth Hall), Edinburgh (Edinburgh Festival) Aldeburgh, Glasgow, Wien (Konzerthaus), Graz (Styriarte), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Bruxelles, Madrid, Barcelona (Festival de Musica Antigua, Palau de la Musica), Valencia, Bilbao, Sevilla, San Sebastian, Salamanca, Santander, Oslo (Chamber Music Festival), Bergen, Vantaa, Turku, Paris (Citè de la Musique, Théâtre de la Ville), Beaune, Lyon, Montpellier (Festival de Radio France), Metz (Arsenal), Ambronay, Köln (Conservatorio e WDR), Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Roma (Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Accademia Filarmonica Romana), Milano, Ravenna, Ferrara, Torino, Spoleto (Festival dei Due Mondi), Palermo (Festival Scarlatti), Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Gerusalemme, Warsaw, Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), Rio de Janeiro (Teatro S. Paolo), New York (Metropolitan Museum, Lincoln Center), Washington (Library of Congress) and Tokyo.

Rinaldo Alessandrini is a frequent guest conductor of the world’s great orchestral companies, such as the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Northern Symphonia, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Boston Händel & Haydn Society, the Freiburger Barockorcheste. In January 2007 he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Norske National Opera in Oslo, where he will conduct numerous concerts and operas such as Giulio Cesare, La clemenza di Tito and Orfeo. His recent opera engagements include Handel’s Semele (Festival di Spoleto), Vinci’s Catone in Utica (Lugo Opera Festival), L’incoronazione di Poppea (Welsh National Opera, Frankfurt Oper, Teatro Valli di Reggio Emilia, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Opera du Rhin), Jommelli’s L’isola disabitata (Accademia Filarmonica Romana and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma), Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade (Teatro Rendano di Cosenza); Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona (Freiburg Konzerthaus), Händel’s Alcina (Liceu di Barcellona), Hasse’s Artaserse (Lugo Opera Festival), Le nozze di Figaro (Welsh National Opera), Händel’s Giulio Cesare (Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Norske National Opera), Händel’s Amadigi (Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Edinburgh Festival), Mozart’s Zaide (Festival Mozart in La Coruña), Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Queen Elisabeth Hall in London). In July 2005 he directed and, at the same time, he conducted a new production of the Incoronazione di Poppea at the Teatro Liceo in Salamanca. The recent productions of the “Concerto Italiano” ensemble include Theodora by Händel in Salamanca and Bilbao, La Vergine dei Dolori by Alessandro Scarlatti in Napoli, Vespri solenni per la festa dell’Assunzione della Vergine by Vivaldi in Siena and Ambronay. In the 2005/06 season he triumphed with Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Bruxelles and Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda at the Beaune Festival. Recently he conducted with a huge success productions of Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria and La clemenza di Tito at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff, La Vergine dei dolori at the Monnaie of Bruxelles and at the Cité de la Musique in Paris and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Händel’s Giulio Cesare and Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Norske Opera in Oslo. The 2008/09 has seen him conducting La clemenza di Tito at the Norske Opera in Oslo, L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux and Juditha Triumphans in Madrid with the Orquesta Nacional de Espana.. He also conducted symphonic concerts on the podium of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in Liverpool and of the Orchestra Filarmonica Toscanini di Parma in Parma.

He opened the 2009/10 season conducting Orfeo on the podium of the Teatro alla Scala, a new production staged by Bob Wilson, followed by Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff and Stabat Mater by Pergolesi at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Just returned from Bolzano where he conducted on the podium of Orchestra Haydn, his future plans include Messiah by Händel with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, at the Den Norske Opera of Oslo and in Washington with the National Symphony Orchestra, L’inimico delle donne by Galuppi at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie de Liège, Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Opéra du Rhin de Strasbourg, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Teatro alla Scala. He will also led the ensemble “Concerto Italiano” in Paris, Bruxelles, Santiago De Compostela, St. Polten. He will conduct on the podium of Danish National Chamber Orchestra in Copenhagen, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Handel & Haydn Society Orchestra in Boston, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra.

His discography (Labels: Naïve Opus 111, Arcana, Astrèe, Harmonia Mundi France) – that includes the Italian and the German repertoire - has won significant critical awards, such as Grand Prix du Disque, the Award of the German discography critic, as well as three Gramophone Awards with the “Concerto Italiano” ensemble. With “Concerto Italiano” he has recently recorded a Rossini’s recital (with Maria Bayo), La Senna festeggiante, Le Quattro Stagioni, L’Olimpiade, the monumental reconstitution of Antonio Vivaldi’s Vespri, Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespri and Bach’s Concerti Brandeburghesi. His recording of Monteverdi’s Orfeo (Naïve ) has won the “Diapason d’or” prize and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

In 2003 he was constituted as “Chevalier” in the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic and he has won the ‘Premio Abbiati’ for his outstanding activity with the ‘Concerto Italiano’ ensemble. Further he is Academic of the ‘Accademia Filarmonica Romana’. Rinaldo Alessandrini is the editor of the critical edition of the Claudio Monteverdi’s main works, L'Orfeo, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, L'incoronazione di Poppea, Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610) for Bärenreiter edtion (soon to be published).

His book, Monteverdiana, is published in France by Actes Sud editon (2004), and in Italy by L’Epos edition (2006).