Christ Church Cathedral
Blind Man’s Bluff – Concerto di Margherita
Artists: Francesca Benetti, theorbo and voice; Rui Staehelin, renaissance lute, theorbo and voice; Giovanna Bianca Baviera viola da gamba and voice; Charlotte Nachtsheim, baroque harp and voice; Joanatan Alvarado, vihuela and voice
Pre-concert Chat:
Runtime: 60 minutes
Inspired by the vocal and instrumental works of late 16th and early 17th century Italy, the ensemble Concerto di Margherita presents a programme in the form of a fable: an archetypal Lover is caught in a cruel game of Blind Man’s Bluff. Playing with concepts of visibility and sight throughout the concert, the musicians take the audience with them on the Lover’s path: born in bright innocence, blinded and deluded by love, lost and disoriented in darkness and finally finding solace in obscurity.
The musicians of Concerto di Margherita all sing and accompany themselves on their instruments. This practice of self-accompanied singing was described by sixteenth-century court-culture influencer Baldassarre Castiglione as the most refined music, “because all its sweetness is focused in one person, and we can notice the beauty of song and style more attentively.”
“Concerto di Margherita are a most accomplished, talented group of musicians who perform with great sensitivity, a lovely blending of voices and totally convincing acting through song.”
– The Yorkshire Times (York Early Music Festival review)
PROGRAMME
Improvisation on “La Gazzella”
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580 – 1651)
Veri diletti, Libro secondo d’arie
Francesca Caccini (1587 – 1641)
Aure Volanti (Coro di Damigelle), La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola di Alcina
Sigismondo d’India (1582 – 1692)
Occhi belli, occhi sereni, Primo libro di Villanelle a 3, 4 e 5 voci
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 – 1643)
Lumi miei, cari lumi, Il terzo libro dei madrigali,
Giaches de Wert (1535 – 1596)
O primavera gioventù dell’anno, O dolcezze amarissi-me, Ma se le mie speranze, L’undecimo libro di madrigali a cinque voci
Giulio Caccini
Amarilli, mia bella, Le nuove musiche
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger
Che fai tu, Villanelle, Libro secondo
Sigismondo d’India
Occhi de’ miei desiri, Secondo libro di villanelle a 3, 4 e 5 voci
Su, su prendi la cetra o pastore, Le musiche per due voci
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583 – 1643)
Donna siam’ rei di morte, Primo libro d’arie musicali
Sigismondo d’India
Amorosi miei sol, Primo libro di Villanelle a 3, 4 e 5 voci
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger
Sinfonia à 4, Libro Primo di Sinfonie a 4 voci
Sigismondo d’India
Cara mia cetra, Le Musiche da cantar
Giaches de Wert
E s’altri non m’inganna, O lungamente sospirato, L’undecimo libro di madrigali a cinque voci
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger
Passacaglia, Libro quarto d’intavolatura di chitarrone
Giulio Caccini
Queste lagrime amare, Le nuove musiche
Giaches de Wert
Chi mi fura il ben mio, Primo libro di madrigali a quattro voci
Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi (1554 – 1609)
Cieco Amor Quarto libro de’ Madrigali
Francesca Benetti, Artistic Direction
Francesca Benetti, theorbo player and guitarist combines her activity as an instrumentalist with that of a baroque singer. She began his training in Trento, graduating in classical guitar with honours at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, continuing her studies at the University of the Arts in Bern, Switzerland. She specialized first in the contemporary repertoire for guitar and then in the study of ancient practice in Basel at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Her activity with early plucked instruments boasts collaborations with renowned baroque conductors and orchestras including Cappella Mediterranea, La Cetra Baroque Orchestra, Neuer Basler Kammerchor, Staatstheater Kassel Orchestra and others. She is the artistic director of Concerto di Margherita with which she performs in the major early music festivals in Europe, including Festival d'Ambronay, Monteverdi Festival , Alte Musik Festival Zürich, York Early Music Festival, Internationale Händel- Festspiele Göttingen and many others. Her solo project «Verde Barocco», which enhances the poetic metaphors linked to nature in the repertoire of the early seventeenth century Italian, sees her as the protagonist as a singer and theorbo player.
Concerto di Margherita
The Ensemble Concerto di Margherita was formed at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland in 2014. The group focuses its research on the historical practice of self-accompanied singing through a vibrant collective gesture, emulating the Concerto delle dame of Ferrara in the late sixteenth century, a true source of inspiration for the composition of new music and discovery of a new vocal style. The group is invited to perform in the best festivals in Europe.
