Born in
Lugano, Fasolis studied in
Zurich, at both the Zurich Conservatory and the Musikhochschule, organ with Erich Vollenwyder, piano with Jürg Wintschger, voice with
Carol Smith, and conducting with Klaus Knall, achieving all four diplomas with distinction. He further studied organ and organ improvisation with
Gaston Litaize in Paris, and
historically informed performance (HIP) with
Michael Radulescu. In 1985 and 1986, he performed the complete organ works by
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Felix Mendelssohn and
Franz Liszt. He received several international awards such as the Stresa first prize, the first prize and scholarship of the Migros-Göhner Foundation, the Hegar Prize, and the
Traetta Prize 2020, and he was a finalist in the Geneva Competition. From 1986, he worked for the broadcaster
Radio Svizzera Italiana, and in 1993 became director of its chorus and instrumental ensemble. Fasolis was focused on historically informed performance (HIP) and founded in 1995 the instrumental ensemble Vanitas in Lugano. Three years later he became director of the ensemble , recording with them several works by Bach,
George Frideric Handel and
Antonio Vivaldi. His recording of Handel's
Faramondo was acclaimed by critics; Margarida Mota-Bull noted that "I Barocchisti and the Coro della Radio Svizzera under the excellent direction of Diego Fasolis deliver a remarkably well-judged and restrained interpretation of this opera by Handel", and Tim Ashley wrote in
The Guardian: "A cool, brilliant operatic game, it's devastatingly realised by Diego Fasolis and I Barocchisti". Fasolis toured with his ensembles in southern and central Europe. He conducted performances of operas in HIP at theatres such as
La Scala,
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and
Opéra de Lausanne, where he conducted
Faramondo in 2009,
Rinaldo in 2011, Josef Mysliveček's
Farnace in 2011, Vinci's
Artaserse in 2012, Vivaldi's
Dorilla in Tempe in 2014, Mozart's
Die Zauberflöte in 2015, and Handel's
Ariodante in 2016. Fasolis made his debut as conductor at the with a revival of
Niccolò Jommelli's oratorio
Isacco figura del Redentore in 2013. At the
Salzburg Festival the same year, he conducted Bellini's
Norma. He returned in 2014 for two concerts and two operas,
Norma again and Gluck's
Iphigénie en Tauride, both with Bartoli in the title role. In 2017, he conducted a new production of Monteverdi's
L’incoronazione di Poppea for the reopening of the
Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. Staged by Eva Höckmayr, he conducted the
Akademie für Alte Musik, with
Anna Prohaska as Poppea,
Max Emanuel Cencic as Nerone and
Mark Milhofer as Arnalta. He expanded the music including dances by
Francesco Cavalli, Filiberto Laurenzi,
Francesco Sacrati and Benededetto Ferrari, and writing a rich orchestration, performed also by musicians from I Barocchisti. == Recordings ==