I Solisti Veneti is one of the first rank of small Italian chamber orchestras with modern instruments.
Founded in Padua in 1959 by Claudio Scimone, I Solisti Veneti has made a reputation especially with Italian Baroque music, recording many works by Antonio Vivaldi, Tomaso Albinoni, Francesco Geminiani, Benedetto Marcello and Giuseppe Tartini. Giuliano Carmignola and Piero Toso were two of the soloists in the ensemble. The group has made over 350 recordings, many on the Erato record label. A number of these were first-ever recordings of works of Vivaldi, Albinoni and Rossini.
I Solisti Veneti has recorded for television and movies. The ensemble has won numerous awards including a Grammy and a Grand Prix du Disque. I Solisti Veneti has toured the world, playing over 6,000 concerts in over ninety countries, in places as diverse as Salzburg and Seoul. The ensemble has recorded with many world-famous artists, including Salvatore Accardo, Plácido Domingo, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Marilyn Horne, James Galway, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sviatoslav Richter, Paul Badura-Skoda, Heinz Holliger and Ugo Orlandi.
As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2008 the European Parliament honoured the Orchestra with an official plaque where they are praised as “Ambassadors of culture and music across the borders”.