In a programme dedicated to recorder concertos, the name of Antonio Vivaldi is an indispensable reference: the author of an impressive number of concertos, well beyond the famous Four Seasons, Vivaldi shaped a language that profoundly marked 18th-century Europe. Alongside him, composers such as Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Friedrich Fasch and Giovanni Battista Sammartini were able to offer original and refined interpretations of the concerto form, in an extraordinary variety of styles and formal solutions. It is perhaps surprising that the recorder, often considered an instrument with a limited repertoire, should have been the vehicle for such a rich and international production, capable of reflecting different national identities and, at the same time, an authentically European spirit, even verging on the galant style. This programme thus highlights, together, the concerto as a musical form and the recorder as solo instrument, revealing its expressive breadth and vitality. At the heart of this project is also the theme of cultural exchange between Italy and the Netherlands: many of Vivaldi's works were published in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 18th century by the famous publisher Estienne Roger, spreading rapidly throughout Europe and profoundly influencing the musical taste of the time. More than three hundred years later, this ideal dialogue is renewed in the encounter between the flutist Teun Wisse and the Ensemble Locatelli, an artistic partnership born of a shared passion for this repertoire and matured through concerts in various European countries, culminating in a programme designed to celebrate Vivaldi and the immediate and communicative pleasure of a music that, then as now, thrives on energy, exchange and shared joy.

Locatelli Ensemble: FLAUTISSIMO

Gaetano Donizetti Theater

Founded in 2019, Ensemble Augelletti were New Generation Baroque Ensemble in partnership with BBC Radio 3, the National Centre for Early Music, and the Royal College of Music and City Music Foundation Artists 2024-5. They are now regarded as among the most innovative and exciting period instrument ensembles and specialise in creating engaging programmes that tell the everyday stories of people living in the 17th and 18th centuries through baroque chamber music.

EPSG:4326

Ensemble Augelletti

St. Mary's Church

Paul Stancampiano, trumpet

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

The world of Baroque music will be brought to life in the Suk Hall by Czech Philharmonic bassoonist Martin Petrák and Ensemble Haydn. Their programme centres on the trio sonata—one of the era’s key forms—and includes both German and Czech compositions. A particular highlight will be Jan Dismas Zelenka’s masterful sonatas for woodwinds and continuo.

Czech Chamber Music Society • Haydn Ensemble

Rudolfinum

This chamber music concert spans a wide range from the Baroque to Viennese Classicism and Czech Modernism. Jan Dismas Zelenka and Johann Friedrich Fasch were contemporaries of Johann Sebastian Bach. Zelenka came from Bohemia and worked at the Saxon court in Dresden, while Fasch, from Thuringia, worked briefly in Prague. Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Cello sonata in G minor in Berlin and dedicated it to King Frederick William II of Prussia. The last two works on the program take us back to the Czech Republic. Leoš Janáček’s Pohádka tells the Russian fairy tale of Tsarevich Ivan and Princess Marya in a rhapsodic tone. Bohuslav Martinů initially studied in Prague and moved to Paris in 1923. There he absorbed various musical influences: the esprit of the Groupe des Six, the formal rigor of Igor Stravinsky and the nonchalance of jazz.

4. Chamber Music Concert

Liederhalle Cultural and Congress Center

Orchestra Concert 3

Ansbach Residence

In bloom

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud

Late French and German Baroque chamber music in the musical equivalent of 18th-century fine art’s rococo, the immediately appealing galante style—including Telemann’s “Paris” Quartet in G Major. Plus, Bach’s solo keyboard Toccata BWV 914. Judith Linsenberg (recorder) joins “Friday Gardens” regulars Lara Wickes (oboe), Elizabeth Blumenstock (violin), Michael Kaufman (cello) and Gabriel Arregui (harpsichord).

Galante in the Gardens

Sherman Library and Gardens

Stefan Filip, trumpet

In Passions Revealed, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra takes you on a journey that dives into the rich, evocative, and stirring emotions found in works by Fasch, Locatelli, Vivaldi, Marais, Telemann, and Bach. 

The program explores a wide variety of colours and affects. We open with a rousing Fasch overture that conveys confidence and fearlessness. The strings are then featured in a hauntingly beautiful and wistful concerto grosso by Locatelli. A restless but ultimately hopeful journey through the night, from dusk to dawn, follows in Vivaldi's programmatic La Notte. We close the first half with a gorgeous celebration of love in the chaconne from Marais’s opera Alcyone.

Great Artists Series '24: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra "Passions Revealed"

560 Music Center

Tafelmusik, now in its 45th year, is one of the world’s preeminent Baroque orchestras. They will be lead by the superb Canadian violinist  Aisslinn Nosky, in a program of 18th century favorites that explore a wide variety of colors and emotions

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra

Mees Auditorium, Capital University

In the BFO’s early music concert, ethereal dance movements alternate with arias about burning passion. Jonathan Cohen, the orchestra’s returning guest conductor and a British expert on Baroque music, will ensure historically faithful interpretations, while Sigrid T’Hooft, an indispensable contributor to the series, will be responsible for historical gestures. The star of the night will be Vivica Genaux; the Alaska-born mezzo-soprano captured public attention with her CD featuring baroque arias associated with the repertoire of the famous castrato Farinelli. Her recordings are regarded as gems of historic performance. Genaux, a specialist in the Baroque and bel canto repertoires, captivates listeners instantly even when singing arias taken out of their original context. Following the orchestral suites with which the program opens, audiences can enjoy her beautiful voice and extraordinary technical prowess in arias by Vivaldi and Hasse, which alternate between sorrowful and fiery, lyrical and unstoppably virtuosic.

Johann Friedrich Fasch

Events

Upcoming events

5 - 6 Feb, 2027

Jonathan Cohen and the BFO’s Baroque Ensemble · Budapest Festival Orchestra

Past events

Jul 4, 2026

Locatelli Ensemble: FLAUTISSIMO · Fondazione Teatro Donizetti

May 18, 2026

Ensemble Augelletti · Newbury Spring Festival

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