Biografia – Giovanna Riboli

Giovanna Riboli
Titular organist of the Onofrio Zeffirini da Cortona (1558) organ at the Badia Fiorentina (Florence), curator of the 17 illuminated manuscripts in square notation (Gregorian chant and canto fratto) dated between the 15th and 18th centuries from the same monastery, and vocal coach for the choir of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem.

She is an organist, musician, and musicologist with extensive experience, whose career spans performance, choral conducting, historical research, and teaching. Her work stands out for her profound knowledge of sacred music and her dedication to promoting historic and contemporary organ repertoires. Her musicological and performance research also includes Gregorian chant, canto fratto, and Beneventan chant.

Born in Florence, she graduated in Piano in 2001 and in Organ and Organ Composition in 2009 under the guidance of Alessandro Albenga. After completing her studies in Italy, she moved to the Netherlands, where she earned her Bachelor (BMUS) and Master (MMUS) degrees in Organ from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under Pieter van Dijk, specializing in historical instrument interpretation. She concluded her Dutch studies with a performance on the famous organ of Sint Bavo Kerk in Haarlem, a historic instrument by Christian Müller dating to 1738. In 2017, she obtained her second-level degree in Choral Conducting under Fabio Lombardo, directing F. Liszt's "The Via Crucis" as part of a concert-exam in which she also integrated stage elements based on interpretative historical studies, presenting new hypotheses for the harmonic and compositional study of Liszt's later works.

Her concert career has seen her perform regularly in prominent theaters and international festivals across Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France, Poland, Argentina, Uruguay, and the United States. She has participated in prestigious festivals such as the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Roma Festival Barocco, Festival Internacional de Órgano del Uruguay, and Sweelinck International Organ Festival. “Es aquí (Bach) donde se agiganta el arte interpretativo de Giovanna Riboli (…) amén de su excelente técnica organística (…)" [It is here (with Bach) that Giovanna Riboli’s interpretative artistry is magnified (…) alongside her excellent organ technique (…)], (Rene Vargas Vera, La Nación, Buenos Aires).

In 2018, she won a grant as part of the European Year of Culture, promoted by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, with a project titled “Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue in Musical Tradition,” focusing on studying and disseminating both European and extra-European musical heritage, particularly the Georgian vocal tradition.

Over the years, Giovanna has recorded numerous CDs for prestigious labels such as Tactus and Brilliant Classics. Her album The Organ of the Badia Fiorentina received critical acclaim from BBC Music Magazine (four stars), Organists’ Review (four stars: “There is plenty of virtuosic playing on this CD, and in this programme there is a great deal to enjoy"), and was selected as CD of the month by Rete Toscana Classica and Rainews 24. Her dedication to music research also led to her contribution to a volume on the Badia Fiorentina, including a study on the Onofrio Zeffirini organ, a historical instrument from 1558. A study on the illuminated manuscripts of the Badia Fiorentina is forthcoming, with an initial article published in the proceedings of the 2023 NUME Medieval Studies Conference. “Her profound understanding of the theological and mystagogical meaning of music within liturgical celebrations, developed over years in monasteries where prayers are sung as medieval monodic chants with Byzantine influences, renders her interpretations not mere accompaniment to the Word but a continuation of it,” Fr. Carlo Turri Zanoni, Prior of the Badia Fiorentina.

In addition to her concert career, she has served as assistant organist at some of Amsterdam's main churches, including the Oude Kerk, Nieuwe Kerk, and Duif Kerk, and was part of the organizational committee of the Sweelinck International Organ Festival. She was also the organist of the Anglican Cathedral of San Juan Bautista in Buenos Aires (Argentina). She held the role of choir director and director of music for the Church of England at St. Mark's English Church in Florence, where she also organized concerts and musical projects.

In 2023, she was an organ instructor and lecturer at the Summer Course of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, addressing topics related to organ performance and historical research. “The invitation is as a consequence of Prof. Riboli’s internationally recognized expertise in the field of organ performance and related research, her recording activities, and her position as curator of the 16th-century Zeffirini organ at the Badia Fiorentina in Florence.” “The invitation is as a consequence of Prof Riboli’s internationally recognised expertise in the field of organ performance and related research, her recording activities and her position as curator of the 16th century Zeffirini organ at the Badia Fiorentina in Florence.”

She has collaborated with the University of Florence - School of Law for the course: “Law and Music.”

She is a professor of Organ and Gregorian Chant at the Conservatory of Benevento, where she also teaches courses on Beneventan Chant, directing a choir specializing in the performance of ancient liturgical music (7th-11th centuries).

In November 2024, she led a tour in New York (USA) as the director of the choir she founded, specializing in the performance of Beneventan Chant, a liturgical chant from the 7th-11th centuries preceding Gregorian chant. For this project, titled "Spiritus Dei ferebatur," which explores the history of Christianity through the martyrdom of the early Christians, she identified and transcribed several pieces (from neumatic notation from original manuscripts). With her choir, she performed at Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral, Adelphi University (where she also gave a lecture on chironomic conducting), the Italian Cultural Institute (where she held a conference on the theological and mystagogical meaning of the project), and concluded the tour with a concert at Carnegie Hall, receiving high acclaim from both audiences and critics.

She is the co-founder and artistic director of Mesotonica, a cultural and musical association that has promoted early music in Prato, organizing over 400 concerts of ancient, sacred, and secular music. She is also the artistic director of the International Early Music Festival "PratoAntiqua."

Since 2015, she has been the titular organist of the 1558 Onofrio Zeffirini da Cortona organ with mean-tone temperament at the Badia Fiorentina in Florence, the oldest monastery in Florence, mentioned by Dante Alighieri in Canto XVI of the "Divine Comedy" and where Giovanni Boccaccio held the first "Lectura Dantis" in 1373, giving the "Comedy" its "Divine" title.