Immerse children in the fifth and sixth year of primary school in music for a week and let them create and perform their own compositions. The musical project weeks organised by AMUZ and De Veerman are a formula that results in enriching experiences time and time and again. Composers went for grand gestures in the Baroque period: important words in the text were emphasised in the music and emotions were intensified. All this provides an abundance of inspiration for the young composers.

09 November, 2018 14:00 -- amuz

Musikalische Exequien emerged from the friendship between Prince Henry II of Reuss, nicknamed the Posthumous, and Heinrich Schütz. They lived in a bloody, turbulent age of war and epidemics. The Lutherans saw death as the true culmination of their earthly existence. This was why the prince arranged every detail of his funeral himself: from the music to be sung – composed and performed by Heinrich Schütz – to the coffin. The Belgian ensemble Vox Luminis, led by Lionel Meunier, presents this particularly beautiful requiem with its touching balance of grieving piety and glorious praise for the deceased prince. No more fitting works can be chosen to complement Schütz’ musical gem than several remarkable pieces by the Bach family.

09 November, 2018 21:00 -- amuz

Rachel Podger plays a selection of the most sensational Baroque works for violin and basso continuo, Biber’s Rosary Sonatas. Written for the most important masses in Salzburg Cathedral, the sonatas evoke key moments in the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary. The fifteen sonatas and impressive closing Passacaglia are composed with unrivalled freedom, fantasy and virtuosity. In some parts we hear musical fireworks; in others, Biber withdraws to the intimacy of his personal religious experience. Moreover, each sonata requires a different tuning (scordatura) in the violin. “A glorious example of someone who lives life through her violin”, The Gramophone wrote about Podger.

16 November, 2018 21:00 -- amuz

The Messiah was already a hit in Handel’s own lifetime. The first performances of the oratorio attracted so many listeners that ladies were asked not to come to the theatre in hooped skirts. The frequent performances of the music and its great success led to the circulation of many different versions of the work. None of them can be considered definitive, since Handel regularly adapted the score for specific productions.

Handel wrote the Messiah at lightning speed during the winter of 1741-42. The three-part oratorio is based on biblical themes: the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, transformed with impressive care into magnificent arias and choruses. Under the rousing leadership of Richard Egarr, Academy of Ancient Music has an unrivalled mastery of all aspects of the Messiah: from understated emotion to the majestic grandeur of the Hallelujah. As the Financial Times (2013) puts it: “Forty years on, and 300 recordings later, the Academy of Ancient Music is a leader in the field.”

17 November, 2018 20:00 -- st-pauluskerk

Jean Rondeau & Thomas Dunford, the duo who livened up last year’s poetry marathon at the Culture Market with musical intermezzi on the harpsichord and lute, have risen in just a few years to become favourite star artists among the younger generation. They have compiled a programme of French lute and harpsichord music by composers who worked for Louis XIV. The two creative young virtuosos will transport you to the cultural and artistic life at the court of Versailles with music by Robert De Vise´e, Marin Marais, Franc¸ois Couperin, Jean-Henry D’Anglebert and Forqueray father and son. Between the compositions they will once again prove themselves to be great masters of improvisation in the Baroque style.

23 November, 2018 21:00 -- amuz

The young French viol consort L’Achéron has attracted attention recently with its spirited performances. It will bring the rich French viol repertoire of three generations of composers, Jean de Sainte-Colombe, Marin Marais and Jean-Baptiste Forqueray, to AMUZ. Their contemporary Hubert Le Blanc wrote of Forqueray and Marais: “L’un jouait comme un diable, l’autre comme un ange.” François Joubert-Caillet, the founder and artistic leader of the ensemble, speaks of his instrument with just as much love and passion: “This sensitive, flexible sound comes from my soul and feels entirely natural.” Sainte-Colombe and Marais’ music for the viol conquered many a heart in the film Tous les matins du monde. Let yourself be charmed once again by this lovely music, performed by L’Achéron.

25 November, 2018 15:00 -- amuz