Grammy Awards ICMA Gramophone Awards Lielā Mūzikas Balva
Menu Close

Renaissance and Baroque chants

  • 12. july, 2023, 20:00
Members

Marco Ambrosini, nyckelharpa (Italy)
Ieva Saliete (positive organ)
Latvian Radio Choir
Conductor Kaspars Putniņš

As part of the Early Music Festival, on 12 July the Latvian Radio Choir and conductor Kaspars Putniņš will perform with the Swedish keyed fiddle (nyckelharpa) virtuoso Marco Ambrosini and the great master of the harpsichord keys Ieva Saliete. The programme will consist of pieces composed by the North German baroque grand master Dieterich Buxtehude, the vaunted 17 th century violin composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, and the brilliant composer of the English Renaissance, William Byrd.

Dieterich Buxtehude was the largest inspiration and promoter of the young Johann Sebastian Bach, and because of him Bach fared the 400-kilometre long road to Lübeck on foot to hear his older colleague play. Buxtehude is the author of a large number of vocal and instrumental pieces that have polyphonic mastery, pious mood and depth of intensity.

Meanwhile, the beauty and pleasure cult characteristic of the English renaissance is reflected in William Byrd's work. In the foreword of the vocal work collection that was published in 1588 the composer expressed the desire to provide some tenderness, respite and refreshment.

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber is considered to be the creator of the solo violin sonata - Bach later took inspiration for his own sonatas from the ones of Biber. His dazzlingly masterful and emotionally charged Rosary Sonatas correspond with rosary prayers.

The unusual personality of Marco Ambrosini has the multi-faceted nature of a Renaissance artist: he is a composer, a soloist in the famous recording label ECM, has collaborated with noteworthy early, jazz, and contemporary music ensembles. Audiences have heard Ambrosini’s nyckelharpa in Milan’s La Scala, in the Berlin and Cologne Philharmonics, and in the Carnegie Hall in New York. He founded the ensemble ONI WYTARS, and the musicians in this ensemble have been a fresh and expressive flair to early music ever since.