The Baroque series of 5 consecutive concerts started with a bang yesterday. After a wonderful concert, which an appreciative audience deemed of a very high standard indeed, Hortensia Virtuosa Ensemble will perform a second concert today. A entirely different programme will be presented, this time entitled The Church Sonata in Italy in the late Seventeenth Century. Works by Italian giants Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti, Bernardi, Marchitelli, Paisiello and Avitrano will be performed by the ensemble, who will be playing for us on period instruments to include Baroque violins and violoncello, theorbo and the beautiful 18th century organ in St George’s Basilica.

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 starts at 8pm. Do come and enjoy rare and beautiful music!!