Fiery Vivaldi
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Published: January 9, 2009
HANOVER, N.H. – The music of Antonio Vivaldi will resound with unusual earthiness, fire and abandon when the Venice Baroque Orchestra takes the stage of Hopkins Center's Spaulding Auditorium on Friday, Jan. 16, at 8 p.m. Recognized as one of the world's most adventurous and dramatic period-instrument ensembles, the VBO — with violin soloist Guiliano Carmignola — will present an all-Vivaldi program that promises to restore the flavor, texture and sensuality of the 18th-century priest-musician's work. This is the ensemble's only New England appearance this year outside Boston. The VBO's Vivaldi is "a revelation," says The Washington Post. "The group's music director, Andrea Marcon, has no use for the 'safe' Vivaldi, and he led the ensemble in vivid, nearly reckless performances, tearing the powdered wig off this music once and for all … Carmignola showed himself to be a remarkable virtuoso with an astounding palette of subtle effects and a highly individual voice. A charismatic, high-voltage performer." The VBO was formed in 1997 by Marcon — a harpsichordist and Baroque scholar — and some fellow freelance Italian musicians who had come together as the pit orchestra for a Baroque opera. The group had already acquired a growing worldwide reputation when they teamed up with Carmignola, a virtuoso on the modern violin who had taken up the Baroque violin on Marcon's urging. As is true of other "historically informed" Baroque ensembles, the VBO bases its interpretations of works on historical evidence, including original manuscripts and first-person accounts of how the music sounded and what instruments were used. VBO members play "period" instruments that either date from the Baroque era or are replicas of early instruments.
Tickets are $50; call (603) 646-2422, or go online to hop.dartmouth.edu.
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