Italians overrun Austrian festival

The Italian harpsichordist, pianist, and conductor Ottavio Dantone is taking over as music director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music for the next five years.

Over this time the Accademia Bizantina from Ravenna, Italy, which he has conducted since 1996, will be Orchestra in Residence.

Dantone as Musical Director and Eva-Maria Sens as Artistic Director replace Alessandro De Marchi, who led the Innsbruck Festival from 2010 to 2023. The top musicians of the Accademia Bizantina will perform the grand opening in Innsbruck with “Il trionfo della Fama” by Francesco Bartolomeo Conti on 6 August and the premiere of Geminiano Giacomelli’s “Cesare in Egitto” on 7 August.