Sergio Azzolini was born in 1967 in Bolzano, Italy. He first studied with Romano Santi in his home town and then pursued further training with Klaus Thunemann in Hannover. Already at that time, he was solo bassoonist of the European Community Youth Orchestra. He triumphed at the Carl Maria von Weber Competition, the Prague Spring Competition and ARD International Music Competition in Munich, where he was particularly successful with the Ma’alot Quintett, an ensemble in which he played for ten years.
 
In addition to his activities as a soloist on a modern bassoon, for a number of years, Sergio Azzolini has been intensively committed to old music played on period instruments. As a baroque bassoon player, he was a member of the Continuo Group, the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges and the Concentus Musicus from Vienna, and has appeared regularly as soloist with Sonatori della Gioiosa Marca, L’Aura Soave Cremona, La Stravaganza Köln and Accademia Bizantina. Since 2013, his particular focus has been on the collaboration with his own baroque ensemble L’Onda Armonica.
 
For a period of five years, Azzolini worked as the Artistic Director of the Kammerakademie Potsdam, with which he gave numerous concerts with a repertoire ranging from baroque music to avantgarde, and contributed four very successful productions of operas by Vivaldi, Galuppi, Graun and Mozart. In the meantime, Sergio Azzolini has become internationally sought-after as both director and soloist with ensembles and orchestras, to perform predominantly 18^th and 19^th century music on modern and period instruments.
 
Azzolini’s many CDs are an indication of his exceptional stylistic heterogeneity. He is currently working on Antonio Vivaldi’s bassoon concertos for Opus 111/Naïve label, which is already a candidate for the most prestigious awards.
 
Since 1998, he has held the post of professor of bassoon and chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel.