The orchestra Il Pomo d'Oro was founded in 2012 with a special focus on opera, but it remains equally committed to instrumental performance in various genres. The musicians of this group are among the world's best, known for their authentic and vivid interpretation on period instruments. Together with their primary conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, they form an ensemble of outstanding quality that combines stylistic knowledge, high technical skill, and artistic enthusiasm. The collaboration with violinist and conductor Riccardo Minasi led to an award-winning first album of Vivaldi concertos. The ensemble's second recording, featuring Vivaldi's "Per Pisendel" Violin Concerto with Dmitry Sinkovsky as soloist and conductor, received a Diapason d'Or award. In 2012, Il Pomo d'Oro also recorded three solo CDs under Mr. Minasi's direction with three countertenors: Max Emanuel Cencic, Xavier Sabata, and Franco Fagioli. The album Arias for Caffarelli was awarded the Choc de l'année in 2013 by French magazine Classica. Il Pomo d'Oro also released a recording of concertos for two violins, with both Mr. Minasi and Mr. Sinkovsky.

In conjunction with a book project about Venetian gondolas by American writer Donna Leon, Il Pomo d'Oro recorded a collection of early Venetian barcarole sung by Vincenzo Capezzuto. In 2016, the ensemble recorded its first album with American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, In War and Peace, followed by a concert tour in Europe and the US conducted by Mr. Emelyanychev. The musicians will also collaborate on upcoming recordings with Enrico Onofri and the young Italian soprano Francesca Aspromonte.

Il Pomo d'Oro has recorded four complete operas: Handel's Tamerlano, Ottone,  and Partenope,  and Vinci's Catone in Utica. The ensemble's instrumental recordings include Haydn's concertos for harpsichord and violin, and a violoncello recital with Edgar Moreau that includes works by Haydn, Boccherini, Platti, Graziani, and Vivaldi. A new recording with Mr. Sinkovsky explores the repertoire of baroque violin virtuosos, such as Locatelli, Tartini, Leclair, Pisendel, and others.

Maxim Emelyanychev

Maxim Emelyanychev is among the new generation of conductors. He comes from a family of professional musicians and began his music studies in his hometown of Novgorod, Russia, where he concentrated on conducting and piano. He went on to study orchestral conducting at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, also focusing on harpsichord and fortepiano, as well as Baroque cornetto, on which he performs with Moscow's Alta Capella Ensemble. As a harpsichordist, he has worked with Maria Uspenskaya, Johann Sonnleitner, Zvi Meniker, and Bart van Oort.

Mr. Emelyanychev has won several grants and scholarships from such organizations as the Rostropovich Fund and the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation. He has also been a prizewinner at a number of competitions and festivals, including the 2010 International Competition Musica Antiqua in Belgium.

As a conductor, he has worked with many orchestras in Russia, including the Veritas Youth Orchestra, which he also founded.

Mr. Emelyanychev has worked with Musica Aeterna and Teodor Currentzis, as well as with Il Pomo d'Oro, since 2011. In 2014, he conducted Il Pomo d'Oro's performance of Handel's opera Tamerlano in Versailles, Hamburg, Vienna, and Cologne. He also will conduct recitals with soloists Katia and Marielle Labèque, Max Emanuel Cencic, Xavier Sabata, and Franco Fagioli.

Hungarian soprano Emöke Baráth began her music education at the piano and the harp. She started singing at the age of 18, studying with Julia Paszthy at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. During the 2011-2012 school year, she also studied at the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini in Florence.

In 2009, she received the third prize at the 44th Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition in the Czech Republic. In 2011, she won top awards at the Second International Singing Competition for Baroque Opera in Innsbruck, Austria. The same year, she won the Grand Prix of the Verbier Festival Academy.

She has been invited to perform as soloist in such renowned venues as Budapest's Hungarian State Opera House, Vienna's Theater an der Wien, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and the Royal Opera of Versailles in France.

Ms. Baráth is particularly in demand as a performer of Italian music from the 17th century. She sang the title role in Cavalli's Elena with Cappella Mediterranea and conductor Leonardo García Alarcón, and the role of Romilda in Cavalli's Xerse with Le Concert d'Astrée under the direction of Emmanuelle Haïm. A frequent performer of music by Monteverdi, she sang the title role in L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music and the Hungarian State Opera House, and the role of Eurydice in L'Orfeo with Les Talens Lyriques directed by Christophe Rousset. Branching out from opera, she sang Monteverdi's Selva morale e spirituale with Concentus Musicus Wien and conductor Pablo Heras-Casado.

In 2017, Ms. Baráth will sing the title role of Cavalli's Hipermestra at the Glyndebourne Festival conducted by William Christie. During the summer, she will tour with the Collegium Vocale Gent and Philippe Herreweghe, performing Beethoven's Mass in C Major.

Born in Italy, Giuseppina Bridelli started singing at a very young age at the Conservatorio di Musica G. Nicolini in Piacenza, where she was taught by Maria Laura Groppi. In 2007, she won the Aslico competition for young vocalists and made her debut at 21 as Despina in Così fan tutte with conductor Diego Fasolis. Since 2008, she has studied at the Scuola dell'Opera del Teatro Comunale in Bologna.

Ms. Bridelli was a finalist in several international singing competitions, including the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition, Neue Stimmen, and Innsbruck Festival of Early Music's Cesti Competition. In 2012, she won the top prize at the Concorso Internazionale di Canto Barocco Francesco Provenzale in Naples and the second prize at the Concours International de Chant Baroque in France. In May 2013, she won second prizes at the International Vocal Competition Stanisław Moniuszko in Varsavia and the International Voice Competition Renata Tebaldi Competition in San Marino.

Highly appreciated for her early-music performances, Ms. Bridelli collaborates with some of the most important Baroque ensembles, including Accademia Bizantina, La Venexiana, Cappella Mediterranea, Auser Musici, L'Arpeggiata, Ensemble Pygmalion, Stile Galante, and Le Concert de l'Hostel Dieu.

She has also performed at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Scarlatti's Messa di Santa Cecilia, and as Amore and Poesia in Cavalli and Stradella's Il Novello Giasone; at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music as Ottavia and Virtù in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea; at the Alessandro Scarlatti Association in Naples as Clori in Gli equivoci nel sembiante; and at the Oper Bremen as Flora in Vivaldi's L'incoronazione di Dario with Accademia Bizantina under the direction of Ottavio Dantone.

In 2016, Ms. Bridelli performed the role of Aristeo in Rossi's L'Orfeo with Ensemble Pygmalion and conductor Raphaël Pichon, in addition to Minerva and El Tiempo in Durón's La guerra de los gigantes with Cappella Mediterranea at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.