Born in Bologna, Francesco Cera is a period keyboard specialist and an expert interpreter of early music. He studied with harpsichordist Ferruccio Tagliavini in his native city and completed his education in Gustav Leonhardt's class at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Cera initially established himself as a member of Il Giardino Armonico, with whom he played between 1991 and 1994. Afterward, Cera began a long association with the Italian label Tactus, for whom he has recorded generous samplings of music by Domenico Scarlatti, Valente, Storace, Merula, and Michelangelo Rossi, among others. Cera founded the Arte Musica Ensemble and serves as its leader; with that group, he has explored the vocal music of Monteverdi, Gesualdo, and Colonna, and surveyed the Venetian and Roman schools. Cera has made his home in Rome since 2001, and in 2003 was named the city's honorary inspector of historical organs.