Francesco Darmanin was born in Florence on 03/10/1995 He starts to study the clarinet with professor Sabrina Landi Malavolti, before being admitted to the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Florence in September 2009 in Fabio Battistelli’s class. He graduates in September 2014 with full marks and honours. His first concert as a soloist takes place in May 2011 in Verdi Theater of Florence, performing “Introduzione, Tema e Variazioni” of G. Rossini. He won a number of competitions, among which “Concorso strumentistico Nazionale Calcit” with 1st overall winner, “Concorso Nazionale Silver Città di Vinci” with 1st prize, “Concorso Internazionale Premio Crescendo” with 1st overall winner 100/100 and Crescendo prize for horn section and 1st overall winner, “Chiarappa” special prize for duo chamber music with pianist Mattia Fusi and “Concorso Lions Aldobrandeschi, Grosseto” with 1st prize. He also performed in various music festivals and concerts as part of the chamber ensemble or as a soloist, obtaining important awards. To mention a few: “Livorno Music Festial “, “I concerti di Villa Bardini, Firenze”, “Note d’Autunno, Siena”, “Rassegna di Musica da Camera di Fiesole”, “Stagiona Concertistica di Castelfranco”, “Accademia Musicale Chigiana”, “Momenti musicali, Castello Sforzesco, Milano”, “Agimus Firenze”. In February 2014 he obtains the role of first clarinet in “Opera da Tre Soldi” of K. Weill and “Rhapsody in Blue” of G. Gershwin directed by master Guido Corti, hosting important productions with pianist Ivano Chiarotti and Alessandro Lanzoni. He regularly works with the Tuscan Regional Orchestra with directors Daniele Giorgi, Timothy Brock, Daniele Rustioni, Christopher Poppen, eva Ollikainen ecc. In 2014 he participates in “Concerti per Solista e Orchestra” of the L.Cherubini Conservatory, performing “Concerto per Clarinetto e Orchestra n.1 in fa minore di C.M.v.Weber” with the symphonic orchestra of L. Cherubini Conservatory, directed by master Paolo Ponziani Ciardi. He participates to the EUYO selections at the RAI venues of Rome, achieving eligibility for “Orchestra Giovanile Italiana”. From 2014 he starts a chamber music collaboration with pianist Mattia Fusi, with whom he performs in many concerts and takes part in various competitions. He recently won the “Chiarappa” scholarship for chamber ensemble. First clarinet for the European Spirit of Youth Orchestra directed by Igot Kuret, he was member of the “Camerata Strumentale Città di Prato” directed by J. Webb for three years. In October 2015 he was the protagonist of the inauguration concert of the University of Tor Vergata concert season, Ennio Morricone hall, Rome, performing “Concertino op.48” for clarinet with F. Busoni orchestra. In 2019 he performs concert KV622 of Mozart with Raffaello of Urbino orchestra. He is active in the field of contemporary music, as such, he became member of the “Ensemble degli Intrigati” originated from the “Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano”, where he collaborates with composers such as Detle Glanert, Roland Boer, Mauro Montalbetti, Fabrizio Festa. Currently, he is a member of the Accademia della Scala Orchestra of Milan and principal Clarinet of Orchestra Toscana Classica and Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina. As a composer, his works “Filemone e Bauci” and “Lieder der Einsamkeit” were performed in concerts organised by “La Piccola Stagione di Milano”, “La Stagione Concertistica dell’Orchestra Toscana Classica di Firenze”, “I Concerti di Villa Bardini” di Firenze.

Agnese Manfredini was born in Pietrasanta (LU) on 21/12/1997. She was admitted at ISSM L. Boccherini in 2010 with Filippo Rogai. After winning a scholarship held by the Istituto Boccherini, she accomplished the second level academic degree in 2019 (110 cum Laude and Honorable Mention). She attended several masterclasses with Marzio Conti, Salvatore Lombardi, Luciano Tristaino, Salvatore Vella, Mario Ancillotti, Davide Formisano, Matteo Evangelisti, Paolo Taballione and Emily Beynon. This year she joined the Corso di Alto Perfezionamento with Michele Marasco. 

In 2014 she won the Riviera Etrusca competition in Piombino. In 2016 she played the piccolo in La Bohéme in the production of Teatro del Giglio of Lucca. In 2017 she has been chosen to represent Tuscany for the National Competition held by the Soroptimist Club. She won the second prize in the Premio Crescendo competition in Florence. In 2019 she won the first prize in the Siena Rotary Club competition. 

She gave recitals in the Auditorium del Suffragio, Teatro dell’Olivo in Camaiore and Auditorium Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze. In 2018 she performed as a soloist playing the KV314 second concerto in D major for flute and orchestra of W. A. Mozart, with her own cadenzas. She’s also interested in contemporary music, collaborating with associations as Cluster – Associazione di Compositori, performing many world premieres. 

She regularly plays flute and piccolo in the ISSM Boccherini Orchestra, the ONCI (Orchestra Nazionale dei Conservatori Italiani), the OTC (Orchestra Toscana dei Conservatori); also, she joins the Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese and the OCT (Orchestra Cappella Toscana). She performed in theaters and festivals such as Ravello Festival, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Teatro Marrucino in Chieti, Teatro Argentina in Rome with conductors Francesco Belli, Alessandro Cadario, Filippo Ciabatti, Alexander Lonquich, Nicola Paszkowski. In 2019 she was selected to attend the Neflac Summer Academy, which gave her the chance to play in the Kleine Zaal of Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with artists Wieke Karsten, Jeroen Bron, Sterre Konijn and the first flute of Concertgebouworkest Emily Beynon. 

Beside her musical activity, she teaches in many schools around Lucca and grows her great passion for dance.

Ivo Martinenghi, born in Milan in 1994, studied Cello at Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan, where he graduated with full marks and honors. Winner of several prizes within international competitions, he performed into ma

ny soloist concerts (for milanese “Società del Quartetto”; at Sala Verdi of Milan Conservatory, a

t Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza). Chamber music concerts are numerous too (for example with New MADE Ensemble and with pianist Bruno Canino) as same as orchestral concerts, with several tours all over Europe (Italy, Germany, France, England, Switzerland) and in Dubai. In 2016 he collaborated with Sony Music label for the realization of an album. In 2019 italian composer Giovanni Allevi invited him to play a d

uo piano-cello as part of his own concert in Turin. In Milan Conservatory he studied Composition too, and in 2015 he attended “Educational Music Academy” courses by the italian composer Roberto Cacciapaglia, who he collaborated with also as cellist for some albums and concerts. In 2019 he published his first album of own original piano solo compositions, “Dialogue”, which he frequently plays during his soloist concerts. In the same year he began cello teacher at “Florence (Dalian) Culture & Arts Exchange Center” music school in Dalian, China

Camilla Insom, born in Florence, She is graduated brilliantly in Viola under the guidance of M ° Vismara at the 

Conservatory of Music “L.Cherubini” in Florence; in July 2007 she obtained the II level Degree in Viola (110 cum laude) at the same Conservatory presenting a thesis on B. Bartok’s Viola Concert “An Analysis for the interpretation”. Subsequently she was perfected with M ° Luca Sanzò in the contemporary repertoire for Viola solo by attending the Masterclass at the Sincronia association in Rome. 

She graduated as an Orchestra Professor at the Teatro del Maggio Fiorentino (Orchestra Mimesis-MaggioArte) where she played the role of Concertino in the lyric-symphonic productions and at the Music School of Sesto Fiorentino – Florence (European Project Musa) as 1st Viola in all productions. 

With the Aphrodite Strings Quartet, which dates back to 1998, she attended two Master courses in String Quartet with M° Miguel da Silva violist of the “Quatour Ysayë” and in the past with M ° M. Skampa violist of the Smetana Quartet, M ° A. Nannoni cellist of “Nuovo Quartetto”, M ° P. Cropper, violinist of the Lindsay Quartet. With the Quartetto Aphrodite she performed for important concerts such as Asam – Ass. Siracusana Friends of Music, Concert Society of Milan, Concerti Angeli Custodi in Lucca, Concert Season at Cesenatico, Music in Apuane, “La Voce delle Donne” Concert season dedicated to the music production by women composers, and so on. As chamber member of the Cherubini Ensemble, she also performed abroad (Singletary Center for the Arts, Kentucky’s Recital Hall, USA), collaborating with renowned artists such as A. Vismara, A. Nannoni, K. Bogino, Leonore Quartet …

She was Viola with Orchestra Opera Festival, Orchestra Sinfonica di Grosseto, Ensemble Italiano, Etruria Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Mimesis Maggio Arte and Fiorentina Maggio Maya, Fiorentina Orchestra, Fiorentina Fiorentina Orchestra, Fiorentina Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Instrumental by Prato, collaborating with M°: Mehta, Osawa, Oren, Krager, Sotnikov, Balderi, Acs, Rigacci, Jones, Netopil, Nicted herself to the spread of contemporary music and in this area she has important collaborations as member of Kammerkonzert under the guidance of M ° A. Vismara in collaboration with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, violist for the Sinopoli Ensemble under the guidance of Fabio Maestri on occasion of the Sinopoli Festival 2006 in Taormina and recently with the Ensemble Nuovo Contrappunto.. She is violist of the GAMO Ensemble and like member of GAMO, she has had collaborations for the “Amici della Musica” in Florence 2016 and the concert season GAMO 2017. She is dedicatee of musical works for viola solo (“Cadentia” – 2010 – by Raffaele Cancelliere recorded for Angrisano Music) and with her own string quartet (Nicola Giosmin, “Metamorphose 2 – Au Quatour Aphrodite”; Andrea Portera, “Accordo Incendiario ” – premiere in 2010 at the Marino Marini Museum in Florence and Caterina Paoloni, ” Per Afrodite” performed as a premiere in 2008 at the Concert Season of Agimus in Florence. She is engaged in the rediscovery of the Viola, Soloist and Chamber music by Women composers. In 2018 She recorded “Ali – two pieces for viola solo” by Franco Donatoni for the Ema Vinci Records.

oli, Rophé, Marschall, Bellugi, Pinzauti, De Bernardt. With Maggio Musicale Fiorentino she has participated in various European tours under the direction of the M ° Mehta who performed it at the most important venues such as the Musikverein in Vienna or the Frankfurt Opera House, the Festspielhous in Baden-Baden or the Tonhalle of Zurich. 

She dedicaShe has been a violin and viola teacher in Private Schools since 2004, she has taught at: Athenaeum Musicale Fiorentino, Musical School of Greve in Chianti, Music School and Art “Il Trillo” and Centro Studi Musica e Arte. She was Viola professor at the Liceo Musicale “Dante” in Florence.

She is a founding member of the Italian Association of Viola – AIV for which she was a member of the Board of Directors as Treasurer for the first term.