Biography

After completing her Master’s degree in Psychology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Padua (Italy), Giulia Cantone studied at the Musikhochschule in Trossingen (Germany) with Rolf Lislevand, completing a Master’s degree in Lute with top grades. She also attended advanced courses in basso continuo and Baroque lute with Evangelina Mascardi at the Conservatorio “A. Vivaldi” in Alessandria (Italy).

A versatile performer, Giulia is proficient on a range of early plucked instruments, including the Renaissance lute, 10-course lute, vihuela, theorbo, baroque guitar, and baroque lute. Her focus lies in the practice of basso continuo and the performance of solo and chamber music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Giulia has participated in numerous masterclasses with internationally acclaimed musicians such as Paul O’Dette, Hopkinson Smith, Eduardo Egüez, Joachim Held, and Paul Beier, and has further honed her basso continuo skills through collaborations with distinguished artists including Gabriel Garrido, Andrew Lawrence King, and Peter Spissky.

Her performance career includes a solo recital at the “Fringe – Utrecht Early Music Festival” in the Netherlands, dedicated to Italian lute music from the 16th and 17th centuries. She played in the final round of the competition “Baden-Württemberg Art Foundation Scholarship for young artists”, as the only musician belonging to the early music field.

Her concert experience spans across Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, and France. She has collaborated with esteemed institutions such as Concerto Copenhagen, the Royal Danish Academy of Music, the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich (G.F. Handel’s Giulio Cesare), Trinitatis Church in Copenhagen, Göteborg Baroque, Østerbro Chamber Music Festival and Odense Baroque Festival.

Together with Ida Meidell (baroque violin) and Adam Grauman (viola da gamba), she founded Ensemble Sorgenfri in 2025, a project devoted to the rediscovery of rare Baroque repertoire, including works preserved in Swedish library collections, for violin, viola da gamba and continuo, as well as chamber music featuring obbligato baroque lute.

As a continuo player, Giulia has performed with the Bayerische Staatsorchester in Munich in Bach’s Messe in h-Moll, at the Bayerische Staatsoper in H. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski, Andrew Manze, Christopher Moulds, Constantin Trinks.