DANCING QUEEN AND FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
Commissioned productions for period instruments, new interpretations of traditional repertoires, innovative working methods, dramaturgically sophisticated concepts that attract a diverse audience – Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) offers all of this and has been one of the musical greats in the cultural life of the Nordic countries for 30 years.
The “Dancing Queen” program presented at the festival in Herrenchiemsee musically illustrates the life of the Swedish queen Christine (1626 – 1689) as a monarch, but above all as a music lover and generous patron. The dramaturgical range spans from a coronation motet and French ballet music to the musical framing of courtly celebrations, a sinfonia by Antonio Cesti to her Catholic baptism to works by Scarlatti and Corelli, both of which were sponsored by the monarch.
In August 2019, FiBO presents “From Russia with Love” at the Brühl Castle Concerts. The program traces the intense musical relationship between Russia and Western Europe in the 18th century. Czarina Catherine the Great did her utmost to promote the arts in the still-new Saint Petersburg Residence and invited numerous Italian composers to the court, among them some of the greatest composers of her time, Giovanni Pasiello, Domenico Cimarosa and Baldasare Galuppi. On the occasion of a European trip, the czarina on Christmas day in 1781 attended the premiere of Haydn’s String Quartet op. 33 at the Vienna Court – a work that is indispensable in this context, even at a summer festival.
21st July 2019 Herrenchiemsee Festspiele
“Dancing Queen” works by A. Scarlatti, A. Corelli, G. Düben, J. H. Schmelzer, C. Gesualdo, V. Albrici, A. Cesti and others, Kajsa Dahlbäck, soprano / Olga Heikkilä, soprano / Katariina Heikkilä, alto / Jukka Jokitalo, tenor / Juha-Pekka Mitjonen, bass
19th August 2019 Brühler Schlosskonzerte
“From Russia with Love” works by G. Pasiello, D. Cimarosa, J. Haydn and B. Galuppi: Concerto a Quattro, Irma Niskanen, violist & conductor / Petteri Pitko, harpsichord
