The programme takes as its starting point the 300th anniversary of one of the most magnificent baroque spectacles ever staged: the Festival of the Planets (Constellatio Felix – Happy Constellation) celebrations that were held in Dresden in 1719 by King August the Strong to mark his son Frederick’s marriage to Archduchess Maria of Hapsburg. Constellatio Felix featured operas, balls and concerts and we know that composers including Handel, Telemann, Heinichen, Lotti and Zelenka participated in this month-long festival in honour of the planets. The works in the programme focus on the Sun (Lully Phaeton), Stars (Muffat Concerto Grosso Propitia Sydera – lucky stars) and Planets (written later, but very much on the theme, by Rameau with Entrées for Jupiter, Venus and Mercury).

28 November, 2018 21:00 -- amuz

The young Taylor Consort has an interesting premise: translating human emotions on canvas into music. They have gone back to the time of Charles Le Brun, court painter to Louis XIV. He wrote the book Methode pour apprendre à dessiner les passions, in which he organised the emotions into a detailed diagram. French musicians of the time were inspired by his work to write many secular cantatas. The Taylor Consort, founded by Justin Taylor after he won the International Musica Antiqua Harpsichord Competition in Bruges, brings the arias from these cantatas back to life with mezzo soprano Eva Zaïcik (following her sparkling performance at AMUZ with Le Poème Harmonique).

29 November, 2018 21:00 -- amuz

Organist, harpsichordist, conductor and researcher Ton Koopman is one of the last of the great original pioneers of early music. For his solo harpsichord recital, Koopman has immersed himself in the keyboard music of the Low Countries, specifically that of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. As the organist of the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, Sweelinck rose to fame as a virtuoso but also as an influential teacher, attracting pupils from far and wide. Sweelinck’s organ and harpsichord music, which can be located at the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque, is extremely important because it consolidates all kinds of international influences with great mastery.

30 November, 2018 21:00 -- amuz

Jordi Savall and Rolf Lislevand have been living legends in the world of early music for many years. Savall brought the viol to the attention of a wide audience, and he is still exploring gems of forgotten music. The Norwegian lutenist Lislevand continues to amaze audiences with his dazzling technical virtuosity and his refreshing perspective on music from various countries and eras. The two musicians, long-standing musical partners, explore the many faces of the inexhaustible repertoire for their instruments, with music by Diego Ortiz, Tobias Hume, Marain Marais and Saint-Colombe (père & fils). The theme of their programme is the lively, expressive Spanish music that has been a source of inspiration to many composers.

06 December, 2018 21:00 -- amuz

The city state of Venice was the commercial and cultural centre of Europe, playing a leading role in the new developments in music. Music publishers enabled the new Italian compositions to be discovered and performed elsewhere; they were also printed on Plantijn’s presses in Antwerp. These early Baroque works express many different emotions, conducting a dialogue that goes straight to the heart. Sophie Thoen, Vincent Lesage and the musicians of Oltremontano take you back to the sounds and music of Venice, the birthplace of the Baroque in the early 17th century. Instruments and voices merge in a virtuoso, authentic symbiosis of sound.

09 December, 2018 15:00 -- amuz

The singing schools in Naples and Venice had an important role to play in the landscape of late Baroque music. Talented Venetian musicians were trained there for a future at the chapel of St. Mark’s. Tourists even viewed Italian churches as a kind of concert hall, where people went to enjoy the beautiful music of composers such as Antonio Vivaldi. He wrote his Nisi Dominus, named after the first words of Psalm 127, for vespers (the evening service). The young countertenor Orlinski, who is causing a sensation on the early music scene, has the vocal virtuosity that this music demands. Words of praise from the New York Times hold the promise of an exciting concert: “Jakub Józef Orlinski combined beauty of tone and an uncommon unity of colour and polish across his range”.

13 December, 2018 21:00 -- amuz