The Aglàia Ensemble, founded in Milan in 1992 by Cinzia Barbagelata and Jorge Alberto Guerrero, is a group specializing in the interpretation of baroque and pre-classical repertoire on original instruments.
The ensemble, made up of some of Italy's most respected performers of early music, presents itself in various formations, from trio to chamber orchestra. Of these, the string quartet undoubtedly represents one of its most important, and whose repertoire, from the birth of the genre in the classical period, is the basis of extensive research by the Quartetto Aglàia, who have proposed numerous unpublished manuscripts.
Invited to important festivals and concert seasons, (Musica e Poesia a San Maurizio, Milano, Cité de la Musique, Paris, Autunno Musicale, Como, Auditorium Luis Angel Arango, Bogotà), the Aglàia Ensemble has several recordings to its name. For the Stradivarius label, Invenzioni op. X "La Pace"for violino and basso continuo, by Francesco Antonio Bonporti; the Concerti a quattro by Baldassare Galuppi for string quartet; the Quintetti per archi e Concertini a quattro strumenti soli by Giovanni Battista Sammartini. This last recording received the critics award "CHOC 1997" from Le Monde de la Musique. In 1998 the Aglàia Quartet dedicated itself to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, recording the Requiem, in a transcription for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853), and the Piano Concerto in D minor K 466, with the forte-pianist Laura Alvini.
In the Autumn of 1995, the Orchestra Aglia recorded Vivaldi's 12 Concerti per violinoe archi op. IV "La Stravaganza" for a special edition of the Italian periodical Amadeus, and in 1999, to mark ten years of the same magazine, they recorded the Art of the Fugue by J.S.Bach, in the version for chamber orchestra (instrumentation by C. Barbagelata) and also the Mozart-Bach Adagio and Fugues K.405 for string quartet and quintet. The most recent releases include the complete Motets for Voice with violins Op.III, by Francesco Antonio Bonporti, with the soprano Roberta Invernizzi (Stradivarius) and in January 2004, the complete Concerto's for Violin and Orchestra by J.S.Bach (Amadeus).
All performances and productions of the Aglia Ensemble, characterized by a profound expressiveness coupled with stylistic relevance and understanding, have provoked considerable interest from the critics and acknowledgement form the public for their high historical, musical and artistic value.