Renaissance Great Hall
Baroque music festival BAROQUE EVENINGS
Pierre Hantai
Rameau’s harpsichord pieces are part of the seventeenth century great French tradition while they require, at the same time, a very modern virtuosity. If in his first compositions, Rameau remains attached to the model suite of dances, many innovations reveal a personal style that appears decisively in his future works. Rameau is considered one of the greatest French musicians of the baroque period and the first theorist of classical harmony; his treatises on harmony are still a reference. This year 2014, we commemorate the 250 of the death of this great French composer.
Handel’s compositions of harpsichord are extremely numerous. Among all these compositions, only eight Suites were edited under his control in November 1720, when he was established since several years in England. In many ways, these eight Suites demonstrate Handel’s independence of mind. If the origin is the French Suites, the traditional structure is not observed rigorously. Moreover, Handel uses forms from Italy or Germany like counterpoint, demonstrating his ability to gather European forms and styles.
These Handel’s eight Suites brilliantly unveil the 1720’s decade, which is with Bach’s Partitas (1726) and the last books of Rameau (1728) and Couperin (1730), the decade of the climax of the harpsichord Suite in Europe.
Pierre Hantaï
Combining virtuosity, architectural rigor, powerful expressivity and scrupulous honesty face the score, Pierre Hantai has risen to the top of the current keyboard players, especially in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti.
Born in 1964, Pierre Hantaï becomes fascinating by Bach's music at the age of ten. He studies with Gustav Leonhardt, who invited him later to play under his direction. Then he collaborates with many musicians and directors as Philippe Herreweghe, the Kuijken brothers, Marc Minkowski ...
Now Pierre Hantaï gives concerts all over the world, mostly as a soloist. He is often invited by Jordi Savall and likes sharing music with his brothers and friends, Hugo Reyne, Sébastien Marq, Skip Sempé, Amandine Beyer, Olivier Fortin, Jean-Christophe Coin or Jean-Guihen Queyras. Recently, he rebuilt the ensemble he had founded in the 80s, the Concert Français, and made many concerts and recorded a disc devoted to the Bach’s Suites and Cantatas.
Tickets: Lt20, LT40 / €5.79, €11.58
Tickets are available at "Bilietai LT" box offices, at the Museum, and online at www.bilietai.lt. Book online...
Organized by French Institute in Lithuania / Institut français de Lituanie
Co-organizer National Museum Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania
Partners: VEOLIA, ClearChannel
Media partners: "Lietuvos rytas", "lrytas.lt", "Veidas"