http://www.goldbergweb.com/imgs/magazine/foto_mag17_ent1.jpg Rinaldo Alessandrini is a Roman. A virtuoso on the harpsichord, organ and fortepiano, and the founder and conductor of Concerto Italiano, he is considered a major force in today’s international early music scene. He and his group have created new standards of excellence in the performance of 17th and 18th century Italian vocal music. Alessandrini’s desire to re-conquer the long-neglected madrigal repertory of the early seventeenth century led to the founding of the Concerto Italiano vocal ensemble. The group’s repertoire was enlarged with the addition of instrumental musicians and now extends to Roman sacred music, opera, cantatas, motets and oratorios. Their recordings of Monterverdi madrigals and the sacred music of Vivaldi are treasured by the public and receive critical praise. Marguerite Haladjian interviewed this impassioned artist, a man who has changed our way of listening and for whom music-making isthe expression of a wish to open new vistas to the musical imagination.