Sergio Azzolini, born in Bolzano in 1967, studied in his hometown with Romano Santi and then with Klaus Thunemann in Hanover. During this time he was already the principal bassoonist in the European Youth Orchestra Association. He won the C.M. von Weber Competition, the Prague Spring Competition and the ARD Competition, where he was also successful with the Ma’alot Quintet, of which he was a member for ten years.
In addition to his solo work on the modern bassoon, Sergio Azzolini has been intensively involved in early music on period instruments for several years. As a baroque bassoonist he was a member of the continuo Ensemble Baroque de Limoges and Concentus Musicus Wien and has played as a soloist with ensembles such as Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, L’Aura Soave Cremona, La Stravaganza Cologne, the Netherlands Baroque Society, the Handel Halle Festival Orchestra and the Accademia Bizantina. Since 2013 he has been paying special attention to his own baroque orchestra, L’Onda Armonica.
For five years Azzolini was also artistic director of the Potsdam Chamber Academy, where he was responsible for four highly successful productions of operas by Vivaldi, Galuppi, Graun and Mozart. Sergio Azzolini is now in international demand as a conductor and soloist with ensembles and orchestras for modern and historical instruments, playing music mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries.
His extraordinary stylistic diversity is evidenced by his numerous CD productions; he is currently working on a complete recording of Antonio Vivaldi’s bassoon concertos for Opus 111/Naïve, which has already received high praise.
From 1998 to 2024 Sergio Azzolini was professor of bassoon and chamber music at the Basel University of Music.