Founded in 1987 by Antonio Florio, the Cappella della Pietà de’ Turchini comprises instrumentalists and singers specialised in the performance of Neapolitan music from the 17^th and 18^th centuries and in rehabilitating unfamiliar composers. The originality of their concert programmes and the rigorous observance of Baroque performing practices make the Cappella a major protagonist in the musical life of both Italy and Europe as a whole. The ensemble has been invited to perform in some of the most important concert venues (Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma, Teatro di San Carlo, Palau de la Música, Barcellona, Berliner Philharmonie, Wiener Konzerthaus, Teatro Lope de Vega, Seville, Teatro La Monnaie) and has taken part in the leading early music festivals: Festival Monteverdi di Cremona, Festival de Versailles, Nancy, Nantes, Metz, Caen, Ambronay, Festival de Otoño di Madrid, Festival di Musica Antica di Tel Aviv, Barcellona, Potsdam, Bbc Early Music Festival, Cité de la Musique, Paris, Saison Musicale de la Fondation Royamount, Festival “Mozart” de La Coruña. The Baroque orchestra of the Cappella della Pietà de Turchini is based in the Centro di Musica Antica, Napoli, and since 2004 has been “ensemble in residence” at the Centre Lyrique d’Auvergne, Clermont Ferrand. The Cappella has been involved in a large number of operatic productions, both staged and in concert form. These include Il disperato innocente, Boerio, Dido and Æneas and The Fairy Queen, Purcell, Festa napoletana, La Statira principessa di Persia (for San Carlo), Motezuma, Ciccio De Majo, La Partenope, Vinci, its première in modern times, La finta giardiniera, Anfossi, L’Ottavia restituita al trono, Domenico Scarlatti, La Salustia, Pergolesi, and Aci Galatea e Polifemo by Händel. The ensemble has made recordings for Radio France, for the Bbc and for the radio networks of Belgium, Spain, Germany and Austria. In 1998 the Cappella della Pietà de’ Turchini took part in a documentary for Belgian television and a film featuring opera buffa for the Franco-German channel Arte (winner of a Unesco award). It has been particularly prolific in the recording studio, producing seven Cds for the Symphonia label featuring unpublished works from the Neapolitan Baroque repertoire, winning various international critics’ prizes. Since 1996 the Cappella has recorded for the prestigious Opus 111-Naive label, Paris, producing fifteen works in the series “Tesori di Napoli”. Among its numerous awards we can mention the Prix 1996 from Le Monde, the Premio “Vivaldi” from the Fondazione Cini, Venezia, the Premio “Abbiati” from the Associazione Nazionale Critici Musicali, the Diapason d’Or twice, for Li Zite’n galera (1999) and Pulcinella vendicato (2002), the Prix “Charles Cros” from the Accademie du Disque (1999), and the Timbre de Platine for La Statira, Francesco Cavalli. Then since 2005 for the French company Eloquentia it has recorded Stabat Mater, Pergolesi; Missa Defunctorum, Provenzale and Le cantate napoletane del ‘700. Recently the Cappella has appeared at the Cité de la Musique, Paris, presenting two versions of La Partenope, by Händel and Vinci; then La finta giardiniera, Pasquale Anfossi, in collaboration with the Fondation Royaumont, and was a protagonist in the Week of Neapolitan music organized by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. It went on to perform in Pisa in the Festival Anima Mundi, and in China and Portugal. It gave a production of Ottavia restituita al trono, by Domenico Scarlatti, for which Antonio Florio was awarded the prestigious Premio Oviedo for Best Musicale Direction, and La Passione, Antonio Caldara, in the Festival de la Chaise Dieu in France and at the Ravello Festival. It also toured in the United States, giving concerts in New York and Washington. It gave the inaugural concert for the 2007/08 season of Radio Tre in the Cappella Paolina, Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome, entitled “Angeli e Demoni”. In 2008 it performed productions of L’Alidoro, Leo, in the Teatro Municipale Valli, Reggio Emilia and the Mercadante, Napoli, and La Salustia, Pergolesi, in a co-production of the Festival de Radio France, Montpellier, and the Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini, Jesi. It took part in the Festival Mito with a concert performance of Aci Galatea e Polifemo, Händel, in the Teatro dell’Arte, Milano, which is to be staged with the direction of Davide Livermore next June at the Teatro Regio, Torino. In October 2008 the Orchestra received a special award of the Premio Napoli for the section “Hidden Excellences” of the city. In the last months the Cappella was engaged in mounting Partenope by Vinci in a coproduction with the Teatro di Leon, Spain, and a long tour in Italy featuring Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. In January 2010 the Cappella has performed, in a world modern première, Orfeo and Euridice, Fux, ay Konzerthaus in Vienna.