Minasi takes over management of La Scintilla
The violinist and conductor Riccardo Minasi, who is also principal conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, becomes the first artistic director of the La Scintilla Orchestra, the original sound ensemble of the Zurich Opera House.
Minasi was co-founder and from 2012 to 2015 director of the ensemble Pomo d'Oro, since 2017 he has been chief conductor of the Motzarteumorchester of Salzburg and artist in residence at the Ensemble Resonanz of the Elbphilarmonie in Hamburg. Previous engagements at Zurich Opera House include the ballet by Christian Spuck The Sandman with the music of Schnittke and Schumann as well as Mozart's Don Giovanni and Abduction from the Seraglio, furthermore Orlando Paladino, Il Matrimonio Segreto et al.
As a soloist and concertmaster, Minasi has worked with Le Concert des Nations by Jordi Savall, Accademia Bizantina, Concerto Italiano, Il Giardino Armonico, Al Ayre Español, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di S.Cecilia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid and at the invitation of Kent Nagano at the Knowlton Belcanto Festival (Canada).
The Zurich Opera House's La Scintilla ensemble was founded in 1998 as the result of a collaboration between the opera house and the original sound specialist Nikolaus Harnoncourt, on the basis of which the orchestra initially adapted playing techniques to the latest findings in historical performance practice.
