Sing joyfully

VOCES8 honours the beauty and joy of voices singing in harmony with a varied programme of Renaissance-style music from England, Spain, Germany and Italy, including a gem among madrigals: the six-part madrigal cycle Sestina by Claudio Monteverdi.

Programme
W. Byrd: Sing joyfully, Laudibus in sanctis | B. Britten: Choral dances from Gloriana | K. Allen: O sacrum convivium | H. Schütz: Selig sind die Toten | T. Tallis: O nata lux | O. Gibbons: Drop, drop, slow tears | J. des Prez: Ave Maria | J.S. Bach, arr. W. Swingle: Bourrée | T. Morley: Hard by a crystal fountain | T. Weelkes: As vesta was | O. Lassus: Dessus le marché d’Arras | A. Sullivan: The long day closes | D. McLean, arr. J. Clements: Vincent | K. Rusby, arr. J. Clements: Underneath the stars

Performers
Andrea Haines, Molly Noon, soprano | Katie Jeffries-Harris, alto | Blake Morgan, Euan Williamson, tenor | Christopher Moore, bass | Barnaby Smith, alto & artistic direction

Thursday 31.03.2022 – 20.00 AMUZ

Anna Maria Strada, Baroque diva

The French soprano Marie Lys and the Abchordis Ensemble present a musical portrait of the Italian Baroque diva Anna Maria Strada, who caused a furore in the opera houses of Milan, Livorno and Venice, and moved to London in 1729 to star in Handel’s new operas. She was famous for the range of her voice, her vocal flexibility and her acting abilities. Something to look forward to!

Programme
Music by A. Vivaldi (La Verita in cimento), Händel (Alcina, Lotario), G.A. Ristori, B. Galuppi, D. Sarro

Performers
Marie Lys, soprano | Boris Begelman, Claudio Rado, Violin | Corinne Raymond-Jarczyk, Viola | Nicola Paoli, Cello | Giacomo Albenga, Double Bass | Giovanni Battista Graziadio, Bassoon | Andrea Buccarella, Harpsichord & Direction

When
Sunday 03.04.2022
15:00 AMUZ

The Cello According to Dall’Abaco

Giuseppe Dall’Abaco (1710-1805), the son of a famous composer from Verona, grew up in Munich and learned to play the cello in the period when J.S. Bach was writing his famous cello suites. A few years later, Dall’Abaco found his first job as a cellist at the court of the Prince Elector of Cologne, thus embarking on a fascinating musical career that brought him fame in London, Paris, Vienna and other European musical centres. His cello sonatas and duos contain lyrical melodies with the lightness of folk melodies, while slow passages emphasise the natural beauty of the cello’s tone, accompanied by a clear harmonic movement. This is a concert of cello music that still sounds fresh, daring, seductive and, quite simply, very beautiful indeed.

Programme
G. C. Dall’Abaco, Cello Duo in A Minor, ABV 49 | Sonata in G Major, ABV 28 | Cello Duo in F Major, ABV 48 | Sonata in D Minor, ABV 45 | Sonata in E-flat Major, ABV 37

Performers
Elinor Frey, Catherine Jones, cello | Federica Bianchi, harpsichord | Michele Pasotti, theorbo

Thursday 07.04.2022 – 20:00 AMUZ

Stabat Mater

“Le Banquet Céleste: gorgeous voices and a limited instrumental setting that keeps the music sounding fresh and clear. Congratulations to the conductor Damien Guillon and his ensemble!” was Klara’s enthusiastic verdict in 2020. The ensemble opens its concert at AMUZ with In Furore by Antonio Vivaldi, a motet about the divine fury evoked by human wrongdoings and a plea for forgiveness that Vivaldi composed in the 1720s during a visit to Rome. Vivaldi had written his melancholy Stabat Mater a few years earlier. He only used the first ten verses of the hymn, thus focusing entirely on Mary’s lament.
Ten years earlier than Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, another citizen of Naples, Alessandro Scarlatti, wrote a Stabat Mater for the Napolitan Order of the “Cavalieri della Virgine dei Dolori”. People are sometimes unaware that the star of the Napolitan opera was also a skilled composer in religious genres. His work is very varied in style: an exciting mixture of simple recitative and extensive arias bring the season to a meditative close.

Programme
A. Vivaldi: In Furore, Stabat Mater | A. Scarlatti: Stabat Mater

Performers
Céline Scheen, soprano | Damien Guillon, alto | Josèphe Cottet, Simon Pierre, violin | Patricia Gagnon, viola | Antoine Touche, cello | Christian Staude, double bass | Diego Salamanca, lute | Kevin Manent-Navratil, harpsichord & organ

Thursday 14.04.2022 – 20:00 AMUZ

Contrapunctus & Choir of The Queen’s College Oxford

BREZZA (IYAP)