An Italian violin virtuoso of the 18th century, Giovanni Antonio Piani, is the inspiration behind the group bearing his initials, the G.A.P. Ensemble, founded in 2011. Its three members are united in their shared interest in the works of this composer who is almost unknown today.

Working with artists like Viktoria Mullova, Daniel Hope, Cecilia Bartoli, Christophe Rousset, Maurice Steger, Dorothee Mields, Valer Sabadus, Julia Lezhneva and Hille Perl as well as performances at some of the most renowned concert halls in the world, for example Berliner Philharmonie, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Tokyo Opera City Center Hall and Palau de la Musica Barcelona, are only one part of the experiences that the members bring to the joint work. For the performance of larger repertoire such as operas, oratorios, cantatas and instrumental works, the ensemble takes the form of a chamber orchestra.

In April 2019 the G.A.P. Ensemble performed together with recorder player Maurice Steger on various important concert podiums in Germany. In June 2019, string and wind concerts by Vivaldi, Bach and Telemann were performed in an expanded instrumentation at the Brühler Schlosskonzerte. As part of the Handel Day, organized by the Händel-Festspiele Halle in 2020, a concert of the G.A.P. Ensemble with Valer Sabadus was broadcast in a live stream. In 2021 the G.A.P. Ensemble performed with great success at Bach Festival Leipzig and at the festival Tage Alter Musik in Herne (WDR). Furthermore, the ensemble is invited to numerous concert halls and festivals with a special Bach Shostakovich program with the soprano Dorothee Mields until 2023.

The three CD productions “Affettuoso”, “I musicisti del imperatore” and “Vivaldi per Pisendel” received unanimous praise from the press (Diapason, Strad, Gramophone, Fanfare, Web music international, etc.). Since 2013 the G.A.P. Ensemble works closely with the Italian soprano Raffaella Milanesi, the succesful cooperation was crowned in 2014 with the world premiere recording of the cantatas by Piani, Caldara and Alessandro Scarlatti and was also highly praised by the critics. The recording of Antonio Vivaldi’s violin sonatas dedicated to his friend Johann Georg Pisendel, a known violin virtuoso and concert master of the Sächsische Hofkapelle in Dresden, received international acclaim and was awarded with the distinction “5 de Diapason” by the Diapason Magazine: “The G.A.P. Ensemble creates jewels of subtlety (…) These long underestimated pieces of Vivaldi’s work have finally met their match.”