Simona Marchesi
is a passionate and versatile artist. Primarily her didactic activity— specifically that aimed at children from 4 years of age onwards— is highly recognized and has produced admirable results: innumerable pupils have distinguished themselves and established themselves on the national and international music scenes. Parallel to her teaching activities, she performs as a soloist and in various ensembles. She was born in Milan into a family of musicians and began studying the piano with her mother at the age of six, later going on to the harp with Luciana Chierici, and eventually graduating under the guidance of Maria Oliva De Poli (Principal Harp of the Teatro alla Scala). She continued her studies, perfecting her skills with Susanna Mildonian and with Marisa Robles in London, where she obtained the Diploma of Honour from the Royal College of Music in 1991. In 1987 she was invited to Houston (USA), where she gave master classes and concerts.

In 1988 she performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London in the ensemble of Marisa Robles and James Galway and played as Principal Harp in the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival international youth orchestra, working under the direction of great conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and Sergiu Celibidache, also taking part in tours that took her to the most important theatres in the world, including those in Moscow, Paris, London, Berlin, Basel and Milan. In 1990 she won the UFAM International Competition in Paris. In the same period, she also began to dedicate herself to the study of singing and choral conducting, founding and directing a Chorus. Her passion for teaching and educating talent led her to the Suzuki Method, and since 2000 she has been a member of the European Suzuki Association as a teacher qualified to teach harp to pre-school children. To crown her personal musical enrichment, she undertook the study of historical keyboards and basso continuo with Antonio Frigè and Giovanni Togni, attended seminars on the Kodaly method and body percussion, and obtained a specialisation in yoga for developmental childhood, aimed at music teaching. Since 2000, she has been cooperating with Anna Modesti in didactic projects aimed at children and coordinates music courses in kindergarten and primary school. In 2005, she founded the Accademia Musicale Amadeus, of which she is still the president as well as a teacher of harp and orchestral preparation in collaboration with Anna Modesti. Daughter of the great culinary artist Gualtiero Marchesi, she helped establish the Foundation named after her famous father in 2010, with the mission of transmitting and cultivating a taste for all the arts through courses in music, painting and sculpture, as well as theatre and culinary workshops.

Her CD for solo harp, “What the Harp says”, was published by Stradivarius in 2020.

Bartolomeo Dandolo Marchesi
born in Milano, is co-founder and musical director of VERITÀ BAROQUE and cellist of the ALINDE Quartett.

He is a member of the Orchestra of the 18th Century and the co-founder of UnderStories Ensemble.

​Bartolomeo plays a 1727 cello made by Carlo Antonio Testore in Milano, generously lent by the Jumpstart Jr. Foundation.

He has appeared as a soloist with various orchestras, most notably the Westdeutsche Rundfunk Funkhausorchester. As a chamber musician, he has appeared internationally across Europe and Asia with musicians such as Kristian Bezuidenhout, Giovanni Sollima, Ariadne Daskalakis, Daniel Johannsen, Beatrice Martin as well as on the German (WDR), English (BBC), Austrian (Ö1) and Italian national radio (Radio3).

He is first prize winner of numerous competitions, including the Cellissima Competition, the International Competition of San Bartolomeo, and the Vittorio Veneto International Competition, in addition to garnering the second prize at the Saarbrücken International Early Music Competition. In 2022 he won with the UnderStories Ensemble the Prize for the "most promising young artist”, awarded by EUBO, in the York Early Music Competition.

Festival appearances have included Utrecht Early Music Festival, York Early Music Festival, Kyoto International Music Festival, Fringe, the Cusiano Early Music Festival in Orta, Göttingen International Händel Festival, “Bachwochen” in Ansbach, “Tage Alter Musik” in Herne and the Chopin Festival in Warsaw.

He has attended masterclasses with renowned teachers, such as Enrico Bronzi, Xenia Jankovic, Frans Helmerson, Enrico Dindo, Roel Dieltiens, Chiara Banchini, Susanne Scholtz, Ryo Terakado, Mario Brunello, Kathi Gohl, Giuliano Carmignola, Alfredo Bernardini, Wieland Kuijken, Alessandro Moccia and Petra Müllejans.

His primary influences have included Nicolas Altstaedt and Antonio Mosca, as well as Kristin von der Goltz, Catherine Jones, Rainer Zipperling, and Gaetano Nasillo on Baroque cello.