Summer Festivities of Early Music
10th international music festival
Metamorphoses of Love
23 July – 8 August 2009
So many forms of music – so many forms of love!
One of the highlights of the festival was the performance An Evening in Venice performed by the renowned ensemble Le Poème Harmonique directed by Benjamin Lazar. The audience could acknowledge sophisticated baroque gestures on the part of the singers who had guided them through the Venetian streets and beautiful palaces where one can hear singing and cheering voices until morning hours, all this in the candlelight. The programme also featured a number of stars from the realm of singing. The countertenor Damien Guillon excelled in the modern premieres of forgotten pieces found in the Prague Castle archives. The Spanish soprano María Espada, who had already charmed the Prague public during the last year edition of the festival, sang cantatas by D. Scarlatti, this time accompanied by the ensemble Forma Antiqva. The Polish singer Anna Mikołajczyk offered an exclusive programme of songs by Frédéric Chopin and Pauline Viardot.
In 2009 the Summer Festivities of Early Music joined European Early Music Network (REMA) – www.rema-eemn.net.
PROGRAMME
Amor Divino
Baroque devotion portrayed through the music from St. Vitus´Cathedral (J. D. Zelenka, J. A. Hasse, B. Galuppi)
Damien Guillon – alto (France)
Cecilia Bernardini – leader of the orchestra (The Netherlands)
Collegium Marianum – baroque orchestra
Jana Semerádová – artistic director
Thursday 23 July 2009, 7.30 pm
St. Simon and Juda church, Dušní, Prague 1
Blossoms among the Thorns
The lives of Saints Margaret, Barbora and Catherine in a medieval choral work
Tiburtina Ensemble – vocal ensemble (Czech Republic)
Barbora Sojková – artistic director
Sunday 26 July 2009, 7.30 pm
St. Agnes of Bohemia Monastery, Anežská 12, Prague 1
Drama of Love
Voices of desire and passion from the stories of Ariadne and Lucretia (G. F. Händel, D. Scarlatti)
María Espada – soprano
Forma Antiqva (Spain)
Aarón Zapico – artistic director
Monday 27 July 2009, 8 pm
Troja Chateau, U Trojského zámku 1, Prague 7
Romance
Dreamy songs of Frédéric Chopin set to the poems of the Polish romantics
Anna Mikołajczyk – soprano (Poland)
Edward Wolanin – fortepiano (Poland)
Wednesday 29 July 2009, 8 pm
Břevnov Monastery, Teresian Hall, Markétská 1, Praha 6
Sempre un po’di follia
Passion and exuberance in the music of the 16th and 17th centuries
Echo du Danube (Austria)
Elisabeth Seitz – psaltery
Christian Zincke – viola da gamba, artistic director
Sunday 2 August 2009, 6.30 pm
Summer Pavilion Hvězda, Liboc, Prague 6
Unica columba mea
The Song of Songs from the works of the renaissance masters and motets from the Codex Emmeram
Stimmwerck – vocal ensemble (Germany)
Tuesday 4 August 2009, 7.30 pm
Church of the Virgin Mary before Týn, Staroměstské nám., Prague 1
Pastorale
The first Prague serenade with the eminent Italian ensemble (G. F. Händel, G. P. Telemann, A. Marcello, C. P. E. Bach)
Ensemble Zefiro (Italy)
Alfredo Bernardini – baroque oboe, artistic director
Wednesday 5 August 2009, 8 pm
Břevnov Monastery, Teresian Hall, Markétská 1, Prague 6
The Dark is my Delight
16th century English love ballads (T. Morley, J. Bull, E. Johnson)
Susan Hamilton – soprano (Great Britain)
La Caccia (Belgium)
Patrick Denecker – artistic director
Sunday 9 August 2009, 7.30 pm
Martinic Palace, Hradčanské náměstí 67/8, Prague 1
An Evening in Venice
Semi staged performance by candlelight with music from the streets and palaces of Venice (C. Monteverdi, F. Manelli, B. Ferrari)
Le Poème Harmonique (France)
Claire Lefilliâtre – soprano
Serge Goubioud – tenor
Jan Van Elsacker – tenor
Arnaud Marzorati – bass
Vincent Dumestre – artistic director
Benjamin Lazar – direction
Tuesday 11 August 2009, 8 pm
Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall, Náměstí Jana Palacha, Prague 1
