Bruce Dickey is one of a handful musicians worldwide who have dedicated themselves to reviving the cornetto. Popular in the 16th and 17th centuries, the revival of the instrument began in the 1950s, but it was largely Bruce Dickey who created a new renaissance of the cornetto from the late 1970s onwards. His many students in over 40 years of teaching at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis helped to consolidate and elevate the status of this once forgotten instrument.

In 2000, Bruce Dickey was honoured by the Historic Brass Society with the prestigious Christopher Monk Award in recognition of his »monumental work in cornetto performance, historical performance practice and musicological scholarship«.

Bruce Dickey can be heard on countless recordings, often together with the Ensemble Concerto Palatino, which he founded together with Charles Toet in 1987. His first solo CD »Quel lascivissimo cornetto« was awarded with the Diapason d’or and was chosen in 2017 by Diaposon Magazine as one of the best 100 CDs of Baroque Music of the past 50 years. In 2011 he began recording with the Czech soprano Hana Blažíková. Both were so fascinated by the affinity of the cornetto to the human voice that they recorded two CDs together with Concerto Palatino and formed a new ensemble called The Breathtaking Collective, intending to show the affinity of »their voices«. In his most recent recordings, Bruce Dickey has placed particular emphasis on new works for cornetto and voice and has commissioned several composers to create new works for this pairing.

»La Nobiltà di Milano« unites The Breathtaking Collective with the renowned Cappella Mariana from Prague, whose members work closely together to form an extended musical family.