It starts this evening …

Last year’s pilot project was extremely successful and there was no reason why we should not try it again this year. I am referring to the five-day run of Baroque concerts we had last year which we are repeating again this time round.

I have just come back from St George’s Basilica after listening to a rehearsal by the extremely professional Hortensia Ensemble from Italy. Playing on period instruments, using Baroque violins, viola da gamba, theorbo and harpsichord it is as authentic as it can get. Performing works which are extant in manuscripts form in the archives of Bologna, Naples and Venice – three major centres of music-making in Baroque Italy – we are in for a wonderful evening of Ostinati and Sonatas of the late Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries – as they are calling this evening’s programme.  Composers include Uccellini, Falconiero, Castello, Buonamente and the great Corelli.

Hortensia Virtuosa Ensemble was born of an idea that violinist Giovanni Rota conceived of and is named after the Violin Sonatas of Marco Uccellini, extant in his Fourth Book of 1645. The main objective of Hortensia Virtuosa is to revive the vast and rich chamber repertoire of the Baroque period, performed on period instruments. The use of these instruments in performance is aimed at recreating as far as possible the authentic sonority and timbre of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The musicians making up Hortensia Virtuosa pay scrupulous attention to detail of phrasing, bowing and dynamics and regularly follow master classes in Baroque interpretation with experts such as E. Gatti, S. Montanari, S. Kuikjen, and others. The repertoire that this chamber ensemble performs is vast and includes the so-called musica da chiesa of the period.  Hortensia Virtuosa will shortly be releasing a CD of Sonate da Chiesa of Bartolome Bernardi under the label Baryton.

Concert will be held in the Aula Mgr G. Farrugia and starts at 8pm. Hope to see you there!!