Biography

Michele Pasotti is founder and director of the Early Music ensemble la fonte musica, the centre of his musical life.

Michele has conducted in many of the most renowned halls and Festivals around Europe, USA and Canada, focusing on early Italian opera and Early Baroque sacred music.

In 2025/26 season he conducted L’Orfeo in Konzerthaus Wien, De Singel Antwerp, Bruges Concertgebouw, Teatro Fraschini Pavia and Utrecht Oude Muziek Festival. Followed by Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria at Monteverdi Festival Cremona with the stage direction by Davide Livermore, Vespro della Beata Vergine at Baltic Sea Festival (Stockholm) and La Sera del Combattimento at Innsbrucker Festwochen der alten Musik, Utrecht Oude Muziek, Brighton Early Music Festival, Les Concerts des Invalides (Paris) and Berlin Philharmonie.

Among the many highlights of coming concerts Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas in Mantua for Monteverdi Festival and at Wiener Konzerthaus, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine at Palau de la Musica Catalana (Barcelona), Monteverdi’s Selva Morale e Spirituale at De Singel (Antwerp),

Beyond the activity with la fonte musica, he is called to conduct other ensembles like Swedish Radio Choir and Orchestra, Capella Cracoviensis and Harmonia Cordis. He assisted G. Antonini at Theater an der Wien and Teatro alla Scala and J. Cohen at Glyndebourne Opera Festival.

His musical life started as an electric guitarist, switching in his teenage years to the lute under the guidance of Massimo Lonardi. He then specialized in Medieval and Renaissance music at Milan’s Civica scuola di Musica with Kees Boeke and Diego Fratelli, attended Ars Nova masterclasses at ESMUC (Barcelona), and got a master at Roma Tor Vergata University. He also received a first class degree in Theoretical Philosophy with a dissertation on Martin Heidegger.

As a lute player he has had a long experience in Basso Continuo practice with the best European Early Music ensembles like Il Giardino Armonico, Collegium Vocale Gent, Les Talens Lyriques, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Arcangelo, Les Musiciens du Prince, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and many others. He loves playing chamber music with artists like Isabelle Faust, Giuseppina Bridelli, Giulia Genini, Alena Dantcheva.

In his precious apprentice years as a free lance lute player, when he learned to think and conduct the music from the bass, was directed by Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner, Giovanni Antonini, Philippe Herreweghe, Thomas Hengelbrock, Diego Fasolis, Christophe Rousset, Monica Huggett, Nathalie Stutzmann, Barthold Kujiken.

As a soloist (lutes, theorbo, baroque guitar), his repertoire spans from the Middle Ages to the late Eighteenth century. He recorded a cd devoted to the great 17^th century guitarist Francesco Corbetta (Dynamic).

Michele played in more than 80 recordings (beyond those for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, EMI/Virgin Classics, Naïve, Warner, Sony/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, SWR, Glossa, ORF, Ricercar, Avie, The Classic Voice, Amadeus) and took part in several live broadcasts (BBC, ORF, WDR, Radio Polskie, Rai Radio 3, Rete 2 of Rsi, France 2, France Musique, Mezzo, Arté).

He is currently professor of Lute at Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels and Conservatorio “Maderna” in Cesena. He has taught at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano and at Conservatorio “Vittadini” in Pavia. Michele regularly gives lectures, either on musicological subjects, or to introduce and spread the knowledge of lutes and early music, also with Radio Broadcasts (Rai Radio 3).