Luca Pianca, born in Lugano, studied music in Milan and Salzburg in Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s ‘Early Music Performance Practice’ class. He began his artistic collaboration with the Concentus Musicus Wien at a young age at the invitation of Maestro Harnoncourt and made his debut at the age of 22 in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna.
At the age of 28, he co-founded the Giardino Armonico in Milan, an ensemble that he led for over 25 years together with Giovanni Antonini and Enrico Onofri. The group became an international benchmark for the interpretation of Italian Baroque music and a model to which practically the entire subsequent generation referred.
In 2008, Luca Pianca was invited to conduct the ‘Bach Cycle’ at the Vienna Konzerthaus with his ‘Ensemble Claudiana’, the Vienna Boys’ Choir and renowned soloists. To date, 120 cantatas, the Christmas Oratorio and the St John Passion have been performed with great success by audiences and critics alike.
Recently, Luca Pianca has dedicated himself to the immense repertoire of his instrument due to the concert break enforced by the pandemic and has recorded three CDs (‘Nobilissimo Istromento’ on Renaissance lute, ‘The Art of Resonance’ on archlute and theorbo and ‘Narcisse au Parnasse’ on baroque lute and theorbo).
In 2018, Luca Pianca was honoured with the Swiss Music Prize, a prestigious award from the Swiss Federal Department of Culture.