Gianni De Rosa obtained his diploma with the highest marks under the guidance of Angelo Bartoletti at the Como branch of the Conservatorio di Musica “G. Verdi” in Milan, where he also studied composition with Ivan Fedele. He subsequently studied with Armando Burattin, Danilo Rossi and Wolfram Christ.
Between 1994 and 1999 he was the principal viola with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano “G. Verdi” in Milan with which he performed both in Italy and abroad, collaborating with many of the world’s most famous international conductors and soloists, including Vladimir Delman, Ricccardo Muti, George Prêtre, Carlo Maria Giulini, Riccardo Chailly, Gianindrea Noseda, Emanuel Krivine, Tibor Varga, Salvatore Accardo, Leon Spieler and Enrico Dindo. He also collaborated with the Pomeriggi Musicali and Milano Classica, with l’Orchestra del Festival di Stresa and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
Gianni De Rosa performs regularly in chamber music ensembles with a repertoire that extends from the 18th century to the present day and includes engagements in prestigious festivals such as the Festival Wien-Modern and il Cantiere Internazionale di Montepulciano. A specialist in early music performance practices on original instruments, he made his debut with “Le Concert de Nations”, directed by Jordi Savall. Since then he has appeared as an early music specialist in Europe, the USA, South America and Asia and has recorded for Astrée Auvidis and Aliavox.
As a principal violist, he has performed with the “Accademia Bizantina” directed by Ottavio Dantone; “Ensemble Zefiro” directed by Alfredo Bernardini, “Europa Galante” directed by Fabio Biondi as well as “I Barocchisti” directed by Diego Fasolis with whom he recorded the Bach 6th Brandenburg Concerto as a soloist for the ARTS label, completing the video of the six Brandenburg Concertos which was broadcast by the Televisione della Svizzera Italiana. At the present time, he performs as principal violist with “La Risonanza” directed by Fabio Bonizzoni and “Il Giardino Armonico” directed by Giovanni Antonini. With these two ensembles, he has participated in tours in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, China and Korea.
Besides Astrée Auvidis and Aliavox, he has recorded for Decca, Naïve, Opus 111, Glossa, Arts, Chandos, Stradivarius and RTSI multimedia. Since 2005, he has been professor of baroque viola at the Civica Scuola di Musica “Claudio Abbado” in Milan.