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Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music 2010: Celebrating Monteverdi's Vespers

  Tobias

This recommendation is based on personal experience. In 2008, after all, we spent an entire week at the event. Each and every gig there was a stimulating experience, from the obvious crowd-pleasers like Carolyn Sampson and exciting discoveries such as Iestyn Davies to meditative late-night sessions for the darkly romantic by Paolo Pandolfo. In 2009, Director Lindsey Kemp celebrated the 25th anniversary of the festival to great success, which put the organiser's at a crossroads: Were they going to extend their vision into the future or call it quits after a quarter-century of inspiring performances and lectures? The program for 2010 certainly suggests they have opted for the former.

Corelli's rendition of the concerto grosso is spectacularly featured, with the 50-player gathering of the European Union Baroque Orchestra. Fabio Bonizzoni's ensemble La Risonanza justifiably honours both Pergolesi and Alessandro Scarlatti, with the charms of the UK's Vivaldi specialists, La Serenissima. Festival debuts featuring Fabio Bonizzoni's ensemble and the Italian Imaginarium Ensemble will showcase the early violin masters; the young Handel's assimilation of Italian manners showcase his incredible Roman oratorio, La Resurrezione, performed by Paul McCreesh (along with the Gabrieli Consort & Players). Domenico Scarlatti's genius will be featured during the Lufthansa Festival for Baroque Music in a recital in London by French harpsichord virtuoso Pierre Hantaï.

The 'Lufthansa Late' series will feature two special concerts: gamba-player Paolo Pandolfo will return to the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music to perform a mix of 17th-century music along with current improv, and Pamela Thorby will perform with vocalist Maria Pia De Vito and pianist Huw Warren to add a touch of jazz to the traditional Baroque. With a bit of luck, we may again be able to report live on these events between May 13th and 22nd.

Picture by Jonathan Rose

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