Dorothee Oberlinger / Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca NIGHT MUSIC

Dorothee Oberlinger is one of the most amazing discoveries of recent years, an expressive virtuoso who - quite rightly - received numerous awards while still quite young. Today she is seen as one of the best recorder-players in the world. Her concerts have been received with enthusiasm by critics and audiences alike, earning her unanimous acclaim. Her CDs are regularly fêted as the best new issues on the market.

Dorothee Oberlinger has given solo recitals at festivals all over Europe, in America and Japan, for example at the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, the Musikfestspiele Potsdam, the Settimane Musicale Stresa, the Nederlandse Oude-Musik-Network, the Festival de Musica Antigua Sajazarra, the Warsaw Beethoven Festival, the Europäische Musikfestwoche Passau, the Rheingau-Musikfestival, the Tage der Alten Musik Regensburg and the MDR-Musiksommer. Other venues in which she has played include the Wigmore Hall in London, the National Philharmonie in Warsaw, the Marianischer Saal in Lucerne, the Rosée Theater in Fuji and the Philharmonie in Cologne.

She has been the guest soloist with leading international Baroque ensembles such as London Baroque and Musica Antiqua Köln directed by Reinhard Goebel, and she also plays regularly with modern symphony orchestras such as the WDR-Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester and the Detmolder Kammerorchester.

Dorothee Oberlinger collaborates particularly intensively with the top Italian ensemble "Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca", with whom she has given many concerts throughout Europe. Their joint CD of concertos by Antonio Vivaldi has received numerous awards from the international musical press.

She directs her own "Ensemble 1700", which she formed in 2003. Together they have realized a wide variety of projects relating to the music of the 17th and 18th centuries.

In 2004 Dorothee Oberlinger was appointed professor at the renowned Mozarteum academy in Salzburg.

Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca / Giuliano Carmignola ANTONIO VIVALDI Le Quattro Stagioni

The fall Schwann catalog lists 77 different versions of Vivaldi's Four Seasons Concertos. There are probably an equal number no longer available for this super warhorse. Against such tremendous odds, Divox has issued a new version in their new Antiqua series by Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, featuring solo violinist Giuliano Carmignola which sweeps the field. I've no idea how that's possible, but it's happened with this ultra-stylish, superbly virtuoso and magnificently recorded release. Besides the first four Concertos from Vivaldi's Opus 8, one for each season, the disc contains two outstanding additional works of lesser fame: Concerto in F Major, RV 551 for three violins, viola, archlute and continuo; Concerto in D minor, RV 128, for strings and continuo. Through such performance, Italy's Sonatori de la Gioiosa lays a strong claim to the title of the world's top Baroque ensemble. Their energy, poetry, scholarship and flawless virtuosity set a new standard for the entire field. Good grief, the Seasons emerge like a completely new, refreshing experience - and at a time when these Concertos stand near the top of my 'I'm damned if I'll sit through that again list'. They don't so much perform Vivaldi as resurrect him. Maybe there is some truth to the importance of blood lines. All these youthful musicians hail from the Veneto, home country to the composer's family. They capture the grand, cultivated wit of the area to a T, along with much of the regal tastefulness. Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca («Sounders of the Merry Mark») hail from Treviso, an artistic center just north of Venice. They play on original instruments of the period, but with astounding security and natural ease. Ensemble and intonation are flawless, tempos beautifully vital - brisk in fast movements, meltingly moving in the slow ones. Their suppleness of refinements matches angel choirs in an almost superhuman way. And - and they play with no hint of whimpering sentimentality or false showmanship! The emotional depth the Sonatori musicians bring to the Winter Concertos, with its bleak landscape, and the profundity of the D Minor Concerto for Strings is unparalleled in my Vivaldi experience. Similarly, the sunny spirit of the Spring Concerto and the folksy dance quality of the Autumn Concerto make it difficult to sit still while listening. Divox's terrific 20bit technology only adds to the glory of the release. One of the 10 greatest recordings of the Century, you've got to get this. Forget all other versions, no matter how much they've pleased in the past. (Intune Magazine)

Dorothee Oberlinger / Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca FLAUTO VENEZIANO

Dorothee Oberlinger trained to become a music teacher and also attended a course in German studies before studying the recorder in Cologne, Amsterdam and Milan. Having won the first prize in the Moeck/ SRP Solo Recorder Competition in London, she made her professional début in the capital’s Wigmore Hall in 1997, subsequently winning many other prizes, including an Echo Klassik Award.

Since 2004 Dorothee Oberlinger is teaching at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, where she runs the Institute for Early Music.

In the concert hall she has appeared as a soloist with such distinguished Baroque ensembles and orchestras as I Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, Musica Antiqua Köln, the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin, the Academy of Ancient Music and Zefiro.

In 2002 she formed Ensemble 1700, a specialist group that performs chamber music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Within the context of numerous concert projects and CD recordings, Ensemble 1700 has worked with many leading figures from the world of early music.