Mauro Durante Violin and Tambourello
Giulio Bianco Wind Instruments
Francesca Della Monaca Vocals and Tambourello
Giovanni Amighetti Keyboards and Effects
Luca Nobis Guitar
Leonardo Cordella Accordeon and Tambourello
Valerio ›Combass‹ Bruno Bass

Taranta! are based in Salento, Italy, where they hold ›La Notte della Taranta‹ an annual festival which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and which is broadcast on live television. The Italian temperament, musical virtuosity and musical frenzy regularly gets audiences dancing in the aisles. Since the Middle Ages, there has been such music and dancing in this region, created with the intention of healing people. The tarantula, a venomous spider, gave its name to the frenzied dances performed by those it had bitten, in order to force the poison from their bodies.

As a band project in which the best musicians from the various taranta groups take part, Taranta! was originally created by Daniele Durante and his son Mauro. In 2021, Mauro Durante took over artistic directorship and, for the first time in its history, toured Germany with an all-star line-up and shared some of the highlights of this very special music.

Described by the Tagesspiegel newspaper as a »once-in-a-century talent«, Tarmo Peltokoski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen in January 2022, thereby becoming the first conductor in the orchestra’s history to hold this position. In May 2022, he was appointed Music and Artistic Director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and was later appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Since the 2025/26 season, this Finnish conductor has been Music Director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. From the 2026/27 season, Peltokoski will become Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, having served as Designated Music Director in 2025/26. In addition, Peltokoski will begin his three-year residency as ›Exclusive Artist‹ at the Konzerthaus Dortmund in the 2025/26 season.

Peltokoski has already conducted numerous orchestras of note worldwide, including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and The Los Angeles Philharmonic. He conducted his first complete ›Ring Cycle‹ at the age of 22 at the Eurajoki Bel Canto Festival. His upcoming Wagner opera productions include ›Tristan und Isolde‹ (Dutch National Opera), his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with ›Parsifal‹,  and ›Lohengrin‹ with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.

In 2023, he received the OPUS Klassik award for his recording with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen. In October of the same year, he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon; his debut album was released in May 2024.