Performances

The Wondering Fiddlers takes you back to the 17th-century and 18th-century concept of music for the chamber by recreating an intimate performance setting where conversations between musicians and audience can take place.

The Wondering Fiddlers: Conversations on Early and Modern Music  
The ‘wandering musician’ is a traditional subject of art and literature. Christian Dietrich’s painting of 1745 characteristically shows a fiddler and a bagpipe player busking in front of an inn. This way, not only is the connection between travelling and making a living readily established but also attributed to the musicians no less than their occasional audience. The Wondering Fiddlers is only indirectly about ‘wandering’ spelt with an ‘a’ and more specifically about ‘wondering’ spelt with an ‘o’. Can modern fiddlers reflect critically on the music they cherish and practise day after day, hour after hour? And can modern listeners think and talk about music which is often perceived as elitist as they would do about the music they consume casually while commuting or shopping? Of all fields, chamber music is the most problematic. Although many professional string players would rather spend their time performing small-scale, one-to-a-part compositions than large-scale orchestral works, the contemporary notion of chamber music inherited from the nineteenth century puts non-specialist listeners off and decreases the demand for that type of concert. In principle, any ticket holder can have access to the concert hall; in reality, the aura surrounding it, which makes it a kind of secular replacement for sacred venues, instils in the audience doubts on its ability to understand what is actually going on – a problem enhanced by the complexity of chamber repertoires.

Performed by Alberto Sanna (violin), Marino Capulli (violin) and Elizabeth Elliott (cello).
With Donatella Paiano (viola) and Conjunto de Musica Antigua Exsulten.
Video by Vincent Rowley; photograph by Fabrizio Sansoni.

In this original musical-literary show, you can hear the voices of two very talented composers from late seventeenth-century Italy – Arcangelo Corelli and Alessandro Stradella – alongside their extraordinary music and fascinating life stories.

How to Flee from Sorrow: Stradella Writes to Corelli  
Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Based on an original idea by Alberto Sanna. Music by Alessandro Stradella and Arcangelo Corelli.
Performed by Alberto Sanna (violin), Marcello Scandelli (cello) and Michele Pasotti (lute).
With Frank Cottrel Boyce as Alessandro Stradella and Nicola Bentley as Agnese van Uffele.
Photographs by Raymond Farley.

If you think you knew about Venice, wait until you see this glamorous musical show on the city’s ambivalent history and cultural heritage. Long before Vivaldi composed the ‘Four Seasons’ concertos, Venetian musicians were filling the halls, churches, streets and squares of the city with dazzling sonorities produced by a variety of instrumental combinations; long after, they were still trying to get to grip with Venice’s slow but inevitable decadence.

Giovanni Gabrieli (Venice 1557–1612), Canzonas in five to eight parts.
Canzona no.1 in five parts.
Canzona no.4 in six parts.
Canzona no.6 in seven parts.
Canzona no.10 in eight parts.
Canzona no.11 in eight parts.
Sonata no.13 in eight parts.

Tomaso Albinoni (Venice 1671–1751), Sinfonias without opus number.
Sinfonia in A major Si 3a: Allegro, Adagio, Allegro.
Sinfonia in D major Si 4: Allegro, Adagio, Allegro.
Sinfonia in A major Si 5: Allegro, Adagio, Allegro.
Sinfonia in B flat major Si 6: Allegro, Adagio, Allegro.
Sinfonia in G minor Si 7: Allegro, Larghetto e sempre piano, Allegro.
Sinfonia in G major Si 8: Allegro, Larghetto, Allegro.

Alberto Sanna, violin and musical direction
Gli Archi del Cherubino (leader Judith Hamza)

In-Sieme brings together two distinct groups of dynamic, young musicians: the UK’s Indian music ensemble Tarang and the Western Classical ensemble Gli Archi del Cherubino from Italy. The concert features folk and dance repertoire from each tradition, as well as a specially created set of compositions performed jointly.

Both Tarang and Gli Archi del Cherubino were established to give young musicians the chance to explore professional careers in music.Violinist Judith Hamza founded the orchestra Gli Archi del Cherubino in L’Aquila, Italy in 2007 with the intention of bridging the gap between young musicians and established professionals. The Orchestra’s repertoire encompasses music from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries, including works especially written for it. Milapfest founded Tarang in 2004 as an ensemble of upcoming young musicians or ‘maestros in the making’ to create opportunities for performance and artistic development. The ensemble plays a wide repertoire of contemporary classical music, specially created and arranged for both north Indian (Hindustani) or south Indian (Carnatic) musicians.

Alberto Sanna, violin and musical direction
Gli Archi del Cherubino (leader Judith Hamza)
Tarang (leader Raaheel Husain)