Events

A Vivaldi evening hosted by the National Theatre Bucharest

"Sempre Vivaldi", a concert hosted by the National Theatre of Bucharest and part of the George Enescu International Festival, promises a sparkling evening of Baroque music.

The concert is performed by the baroque music ensemble Sempre and is a celebration of one of the freshest (even today, 300 years later) composers of Baroque music: Antonio Vivaldi. The Vivaldian journey includes the concerto grosso and the overture - established genres of the Baroque era. The musicians propose a repertoire variation (in six beats) that will include two of the four concertos - seasons, the passionate Triosonata "La Follia" and the impetuous motet "In turbato mare irato".

For this concert, Sempre has chosen a small orchestral formula, more akin to a (slightly larger) chamber formula: seven instrumentalists and a soprano voice. The cast consists of one musician per part. This type of cast was also common in the period, often dictated by practical reasons of limited numbers of musicians or to fit into a smaller concert space.

Performed by the baroque music ensemble Sempre: Cristina Vasilache - soprano, Rafael Butaru / Mircea Grigore Lazar / Melinda Beres - baroque violin, Tamara Dica – baroque viola, Lázár Zsombor – baroque cello, István Csata – baroque double bass, Raluca Enea – harpsichord.

In the program: Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741):
- Overture L'Olimpiade, RV 725: Allegro
- Concerto "L'Inverno" (Le Quattro stagioni), RV 297, for violin and string orchestra: Allegro non molto – Largo – Allegro
- Concerto Grosso, RV 157, for string orchestra: Allegro – Largo – Allegro
- "La Follia" Concert, RV 63, for two violins and basso continuo
- "L'Estate" Concert, RV 315, for violin and string orchestra: Allegro non molto – Adagio – Presto
- "In turbato mare irato" Motet, RV 627, for soprano and string orchestra: Aria – Recitativ – Aria – Alleluia.

The Sempre Baroque Ensemble brings together musicians specializing in the performance of early music with over 20 years' experience in the field. The repertoire is mainly 18th century Baroque music, but the concert programs also include pieces from the 17th century and works from the period before the Classical period.

The concerns of the members of the ensemble are the authenticity of the interpretation (both in terms of musical stylistics and the instruments used - faithful copies of historical originals) and the thorough musicological research, which allows to approach original repertoire concepts. The musicians who form the ensemble have attended specialization courses in early music, master's courses or undergraduate studies in this field at prestigious European institutions. SEMPRE has a modular structure, adaptable to different types of repertoire, ranging from chamber duo or trio formulas to extended orchestral formulas such as the one used in the "Sempre Vivaldi" concert. The latter is also the name of the ensemble's debut concert. A sparkling program that offers the audience an attractive repertoire that is a wonderful plea for the beauty of baroque music.

Among the ensemble's productions in the last two years are "Bach by concerts" ( November 27, 2020), "Handel vs Handel" (December 5, 2020), "Sempre Vivaldi" (March 21, 2021), "Les Caractères" (November 21, 2021), "Baroque unknown" (March 21, 2022), "Bach by night" (November 27, 2022), "Sparkling Handel" (March 21, 2023), "To B or not to B" (June 18, 2023).

For tickets: tinyurl.com/SempreVivaldi

For the musicological texts: https://tinyurl.com/SempreVivaldi-texte

For interviews with the artists or other details about the event:

- Laurențiu Constantin.

- E-mail: laurentiu@medievalpraxis.ro, Tel. 0725.223.394.

Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu