September 6 marked the passing of conductor and musicologist Claudio Scimone, well known throughout the world for having founded the Solisti Veneti Orchestra in 1959. He and the orchestra he created provided a major contribution to the rediscovery of Italian Baroque music on an international level, especially with regard to the output of Antonio Vivaldi. Scimone died in Padova.

Claudio Scimone was a longtime collaborator with Casa Ricordi, and was responsible for revisions of works by Tartini and Vivaldi. His most important and best-known contribution as a musicologist was his arrangement of Gioachino Rossini’s Maometto II, which he conducted in 1985 for a memorable modern premiere at the Rossini Opera Festival, featuring a cast of Samuel Ramey, Cecilia Gasdia and Lucia Valentini Terrani.