Leading the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conductor and soprano Barbara Hannigan present a program exploring the concept of The American Dream. “I grew up in awe of America, but now my feelings are mainly nostalgic. With this repertoire, I want to express my admiration for the incredible creativity and tenacity of composers who shaped a musical language that was truly their …

The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentleman led by Robert Rawson explores Antonio Vivaldi’s influence on a generation of Czech composers. Best remembered today for The Four Seasons, Vivaldi’s dedication of the famous concertos to Count Wenzel von Morzin of Prague implies the works may first have become known there. In 1718 Morzin brought his “virtuosissima” orchestra – to quote Vivaldi …

Spanish violinist Cristina Prats Costa presents her debut solo debut album, a vibrant portrait of the sound world of 17th and early 18th century music shaped by the cultures of the Mediterranean. Inspired by Andrea Falconieri’s Il Spiritillo Brando, the album takes the spiritillo – a mischievous, animating sprite – as a metaphor for the Baroque imagination: a realm of …

Founded in 1988, Il Gardellino is a Flemish Baroque orchestra whose name is taken from the virtuosic goldfinch in Vivaldi’s eponymous concerto. What was applied as a playful metaphor almost 40 years ago, now encapsulates the identity of this internationally acclaimed Belgian period instrument ensemble acclaimed for their focus on works by Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries Johann Friedrich …

Composed during Antonio Vivaldi’s stay in Prague in 1729–30, the Concerto for Lute RV 93 is the most celebrated example of a repertoire almost totally neglected today, but once extremely popular in the German-speaking world, particularly in the Habsburg lands of Austria and Bohemia. In her new album. lutenist Evangelina Mascardi illuminates a fundamental chapter in the history of the …

For her new recording, entitled Or (light), Franco-American cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton presents arrangements of works by Couperin and Vivaldi. The album begins with the first and third of Couperin’s Leçons de ténèbres — the Lamentations of Jeremiah, originally scored for soprano and continuo. Wieder-Atherton says, “I had long been looking for an instrument that could accompany my cello in the …

A Chinese-German-Finnish trio comprising sheng virtuoso Wu Wei, violist Martin Stegner, and double bass player Janne Saksala perform arrangements of works by Claudio Monteverdi, J. S. Bach, and Antonio Vivaldi with an additional non-Baroque bonus: “Buremarsj frå Beiarn,” a bridal march from Norwegian folk tradition. The sheng, whose history goes back three thousand years, is a free reed polyphonic instrument, …

This new album featuring two rising star countertenors Carlo Vistoli and Hugh Cutting. Accompanied by Les Arts Florissants, conducted by William Christie, the program centers Baroque arias and duets for two altos by composers such as Monteverdi, Caldara, Bononcini, and Vivaldi. The album’s release marks a significant milestone in Cutting’s career, following his recognition as the first countertenor to win …

Inspired by the polyptchs (altarpieces composed of multiple panels, often depicting scenes from the Bible or religious figures) of the 14th century Italian painter Duccio, Swiss composer Frank Martin composed a work in six tableaux based on the Passion of Christ. Polyptyque, a concerto for violin and two small orchestras rooted in the music of Bach, Martin sets out to …

Théotime Langlois de Swarte has quickly become one of today’s most sought-after violin soloists. His almost super-human dexterity on both the baroque and modern instrument has mesmerized critics, while his passion and conviction has made him a star with audiences everywhere. In a recent review, Gramophone wrote, “I’m running out of ways to recount Théotime’s brilliance….Most of all, I’m in …

Al-Bunduqiyya is the Arabic name for Venice and The Lost Concerto is a work composed in 2021 by the charismatic cellist Giovanni Sollima. It germinated from the only extant fragment – the orchestral viola part, now preserved at the Venice Conservatory – of a Vivaldi cello concerto in E minor. Among the other items are complete concertos by Vivaldi, solo …

A former member of Le Jardin des Voix, the apprenticeship program for William Christie‘s seminal ensemble Les Arts Florissants, Carlo Vistoli has risen to the top of the field of baroque specialists. Chicago audiences were introduced to the Italian countertenor in 2017 when he sang the role of Ottone in The Coronation of Poppea with the Monteverdi 450 tour in …

The latest album from the prolific 25-year-old trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary features a collection of winter-themed popular songs by Richard Rodgers, Charlie Chaplin, and Hugh Martin alongside short movements from the classical repertoire by Dvořák, Rossini, Falla, Kreisler, Bach, and Vivaldi. Winter Gardens, which features the Paris Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sascha Goetzel, also features a work new to the …

Trevor Pinnock, a pioneer in the historically informed performance practice, has convened a bespoke ensemble, dubbed Pinnock’s Players, to partner with star trumpeter Alison Balsom on her new album of Baroque concertos. All six of the concertos recorded here – by Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann, Albinoni and Marcello – are transcriptions of virtuoso works for violin or oboe, performed by Balsom …

The Austrian-based Janoska Ensemble (two violins, double bass, piano) has established it’s brand as an innovative, improvisational, boundary-defying quartet that bridge classical, jazz, pop, folk, and world music genres. Their fourth studio album is an idiosyncratic new arrangement of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with newly composed passages by ensemble member, pianist, and composer František Janoska. Inspired by Vivaldi’s original sonnets, …

Inspired by the musical soirées curated by J.S. Bach, this new release from Apollo’s Fire features repertoire that is believed to have been performed at the Café Zimmerman in Leipzig. Selections include Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 with virtuoso soloists Alan Choo, violin, and Daphna Mor, recorder; and the Double Concerto for Oboe and Violin featuring oboist Debra Nagy and …