Massimiliano Toni was born in Rome and graduated in Organ and Composition from the "Santa Cecilia" Conservatory. He won the First Prize in the 10th and 12th edition of the National Organ Contest in Noale, Italy. He studied harpsichord, thorough bass and improvisation at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, where he also worked as corepetitor and directed the "Opernklasse" in 1997-98. He has been playing with different groups and as a soloist in the most important festivals in Europe. He began his career as the assistant of Alessandro De Marchi, with whom he has been collaborating regularly since 1997. He was the assistant of many other conductors, such as Alberto Zedda, Jesùs Lopez-Cobos, Victor Pablo. He was René Jacob's assistant from 2003 through 2007. He has recently begun his own conducting career and was at the head of Orchestra Musica Rara, Orchestra Giovanile Montis Regalis, Orchestra La Dispersione-Valencia, Orchestra 1813 (As.li.co.). He was invited professor of thorough bass at the Department of Early Music of E.S.M.U.C. in Barcelona. Upcoming projects include Tetraktys ovvero La prima età del Mondo, a new ballet on music by G.F. Haendel and choreography by Deda Cristina Colonna at Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda by C. Monteverdi in Oslo and L’Orfeo by C. Monteverdi at Festival de Musica Antigua de Gijon.
