Born in Milan, Giovanni Antonini studied at the Civica Scuola di Musica and the Centre de Musique Ancienne in Geneva. He is a founding member of the Baroque ensemble Il Giardino Armonico, which he has led since 1989. With this ensemble, he has appeared as conductor and soloist on the recorder and Baroque transverse flute, performing across Europe, the United States, Canada, South America, Australia, Japan, and Malaysia. He also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kammerorchester Basel.
Antonini has collaborated with numerous renowned artists, including Cecilia Bartoli, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Giuliano Carmignola, Isabelle Faust, Sol Gabetta, Sumi Jo, Viktoria Mullova, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Emmanuel Pahud, and Giovanni Sollima. Recognized for his refined and innovative interpretations of the classical and Baroque repertoire, he is a frequent guest conductor with esteemed orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Concertgebouworkest, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, London Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
His opera productions include notable performances such as Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto and Bellini’s Norma with Cecilia Bartoli at the Salzburg Festival. In 2018, he conducted Orlando at the Theater an der Wien and returned to the Opernhaus Zürich for Idomeneo. In 2019, he led Giulio Cesare at La Scala, where he returned in 2021 for Così fan tutte. That same year, he revisited the Theater an der Wien for Cavalieri’s Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo. Antonini will once again conduct at La Scala in the 2024-25 season for Robert Carsen’s production of L’Orontea. Throughout the season, he will also return to the Berliner Philharmoniker, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and Bamberger Symphoniker.
With Il Giardino Armonico, Antonini has produced numerous acclaimed recordings, including instrumental works by Vivaldi, J.S. Bach (Brandenburg Concertos), Biber, and Locke for Teldec. For Naïve, he recorded Vivaldi’s opera Ottone in Villa, while his collaborations with Decca feature two volumes with Julia Lezhneva. His releases with Alpha Classics (Outhere Music Group), such as La morte della Ragione, showcase his interest in Renaissance music through collections of 16th- and 17th-century instrumental works. With the Kammerorchester Basel, he recorded the complete Beethoven Symphonies for Sony Classical and Revolution, a disc of flute concertos with Emmanuel Pahud, for Warner Classics.
Antonini is the Artistic Director of the Haydn2032 project, an ambitious initiative aimed at recording and performing the complete symphonies of Joseph Haydn with Il Giardino Armonico and the Kammerorchester Basel by the 300th anniversary of the composer’s birth. To date, the first 15 volumes of this monumental undertaking have been released on the Alpha Classics label.