Quintetto Bibiena
The Quintetto Bibiena was founded in 1993 and it soon emerged as one of the most innovative chamber ensembles in the European concert panorama: having won the well-known Ard Competition and, soon after that, having been invited by the Cidim (Italian Committee for Music) to join the groups chosen for the "New Career" initiative, the Quintetto Bibiena soon reached a level of visibility and an artistic quality unanimously acknowledged by both public and critics.
In 1995, the Quintetto made its début into the record field by recording "Flamen", a CD containing the homonymous piece by Ivan Fedele, dedicated to the group, and the integral piece by Ligeti. Soon after that, came Poulenc’s integral piece for wind instruments and piano and the arrangement for quintet of Musorgskij’s "Pictures of an exhibition", arranged by Carlo Ballerini.
The Quintetto Bibiena has been performing in numerous concerts in Italy, Europe, South America and different other countries since 1993. They have always successfully proposed their peculiar artistic strategy (a combination of pure repertoire, New Music and arrangements) to all the main Italian concert associations (including the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Società del Quartetto of Milan, the Unione Musicale of Turin, the Amici della Musica of Florence, the Festival of Ravello and Settembre Musica) and to the main European theatres and festivals.
Composers such as Ivan Fedele, Matteo D’Amico, Carlo Boccadoro, Alberto Colla, Riccardo Nova, Andrea Chenna, Nicola Campogrande, Giovanni Collima and Stefano Bellon have written original pieces for the Quintetto Bibiena. Arrangement has always played a special role in the Quintetto’s repertoire: for instance, the arrangement of "Pictures of an exhibition" and "La boite à joux-joux" by Debussy, transcribed by Ballarini, Prokofiev’s "Pierino and the Wolf" (with the musicians themselves interpreting the reciting voices, even in foreign languages) entrusted to Andrea Chenna and many other pieces were represented in different occasions, always getting great consensus.
The Quintetto Bibiena is also very committed in the promotion of various formations: the group has been collaborating with pianists such as Michele Campanella, Michel Dalberto, Andrea Lucchesini, Roberto Cominati; with the soprano Luisa Castellani; with the Indian percussionist Manjunath and others.
In 2003, the jury of the Abbiati Prize awarded the Filippo Siebaneck Prize to the Quintetto for their artistic activity and for the didactic aspect of the transcriptions they promote.
Individually, the five musicians are all permanent leading parts in the Orchestra Sinfonica della Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Teatro La Fenice di Venezia.