Born in 1983 in Como, Italy, studied piano with Ernesto Esposito and was awarded his Master’s degree in harpsichord ‘summa cum laude’ at the Como Conservatory where he was a pupil of Giovanni Togni, Stefano Molardi and Paolo Beschi. As a DAAD stipend-holder, he was awarded a distinction in his studies with Christian Rieger at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. He attended courses with Kristian Bezuidenhout, Jesper Christensen, Andrea Marcon, Stefano Demicheli, Christophe Rousset, Andreas Staier, and Alexei Lubimov. He won the first prize at the basso continuo competition ‘G. Gambi’ in 2007 in Pesaro. He is now currently studying modern piano with László Gyimesi and conducting with Yoichi Sugiyama and Christoph Altstädt (Masterclasses bei Julien Salemkour and Giancarlo Andretta).
Since Februar 2017 he has been playing regularly (Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” and Vivaldi-Tour 2017 and 2018 as well as Rossini’s “l’Italiana in Algeri” at the Salzburger Festspielen 2018; Händel’ s Ariodante in 2019 and Farinelli-Tour 2019-2020) with Cecilia Bartoli and Les Musiciens du Prince, receiving great appreciation from critics (“Special mention for the harpsichordist Luca Quintavalle that played wonderfully with the texts of the recits making them extremely lively” www.bachtrack.com).
Luca Quintavalle has collaborated even as a soloist with orchestras such as Concerto Köln, Les Talens Lyriques, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, Cappella Gabetta, Ensemble Matheus, Academia Montis Regalis, Il Canto d’Orfeo, Harmonie Universelle, Divino Sospiro, Il Pomo d’Oro, Capella Augustina, La Folia Barockorchester, Kölner Kammerorchester, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Gürzenich Orchester, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Hamburger Symphoniker und Philharmonisches Staatsorchesters Hamburg. He appeared in some of the most important concert halls in Germany (Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Herkulessaal and Prinzregententheater München, Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Berliner Philharmonie, Kölner Philharmonie…..) as well as in Israel, Istanbul, France (Handel’s Alcina at Opéra Garnier-Paris under the baton of Christophe Rousset), Japan, USA, and Russia. He was with great success assistant to Alessandro de Marchi at the Cologne Opera in Handel’s Rinaldo (www.Opernnetz.de. “A wonderful contrast: the breathtaking harpsichord player!”)
He has made recordings for the labels Sony-Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, Capriccio, Onyx, Erato, Hyperion, Hänssler Classics, Pan Classics and TYXart. His chamber music Cds with his Ensembles “G.A.P.”, “Nel Dolce”, with the singer Raffaella Milanesi, and the recorder player Daniel Rothert had always successful reviews (5 de Diapason; “This is a superb
disc, in fact one of the best discs with baroque violin music I have heard for some time“ MusicWeb International; ”a warm commendation” Fanfare). His first solo recording of Jean-Baptiste Barrière’s and Bernard de Bury’s harpsichord music by the label Brilliant Classics was chosen as “Recording of the month” from MusicWeb International and got really positive reviews (“a great deal of excellent playing by Luca Quintavalle; enjoyable listening, which may be unreservedly recommended.” Early Music- Oxford Journal; “I don’t expect this recording to be surpassed” American Record Guide) Several radio stations (Radio 3-Rai; Radio Classica, WDR3, SR2, hr2, Bayerische Rundfunk, Deutschlandfunk…..) interviewed him, introduced his recordings and broadcasted his concerts. He played even several composers of the XX and XXI Century (De Falla, Ligeti, Halffter, Ohana, Pärt, Dutilleux, Martinu, Schnittke, Martin, Parra) with groups such as Ensemble Resonanz, Ensemble Musikfabrik and Kölner Kammersolisten (Ensemble made up of the principal players of Gürzenich Orchester and WDR Sinfonieorchester). He gave masterclasses at the Moscow State University for Art and Culture, in St Petersburg and at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf. He was lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and he is now currently lecturer at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen.
