Concert "Love and madness"

The world-renowned Italian harpsichordist, organist and conductor Claudio Astronio returns to the stage of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania together with his compatriots soprano Marina Bartoli and cellist Marco Frezzato. This trio presents an exceptional programme that takes the audience into the world of passion and madness of the Baroque period. The performers say: "Baroque aesthetics has always emphasised the power of emotions and states of mind. Here, every detail is exaggerated to create drama, tension, energy and to show how strongly love and madness are linked."

 

The concert is presented by the Embassy of Italy and Italian Cultural Institute of Vilnius.

Giovanni Battista Vitali - 'Toccata' and 'Dance' (Toccata e ruggero)

Alessandro Stradella - aria 'Madness in Love' ('E' pazzia l'innamorarsi')

Barbara Strozzi - song "What can be done?" ("Che si può fare")

Marcantonio da Bologna - song 'Madame, you have my heart' ('Madame vous avez mon coeur')

Antonio Vivaldi - aria 'I go from sorrow to sorrow' ('Passo di pena in pena') from the cantata 'Amor, hai vinto' ('Love, you have won')

Domenico Gabrielli - Ricercare No 6 for solo cello

Tarquinio Merula - aria 'Folle è ben che si crede' ('Folle è ben che si crede'), 'Canzonetta spirituale sopra la nanna' ('Canzonetta spirituale sopra la nanna')

Benedetto Marcello - Sonata for Cello in F major

Giovanni Legrenzi - 'Blind Angel' ('Cieco Nume')

Antonio Vivaldi - aria 'Misero spirito mio' from the opera 'Otto in the Fortress'

Alessandro Scarlatti - 'Rise above madness' ('Partite sopra follia')

Barbara Strozzi - song 'E' pazzo il mio core' ('E' pazzo il mio core')

The versatile artist CLAUDIO ASTRONIO directs the early music ensemble Harmonices Mundi, which he founded, and regularly performs at prestigious festivals in Europe, the USA, Japan, Mexico and Canada. He has been featured on numerous radio and television programmes around the world and his harpsichord and organ recordings have won numerous international awards. His film debuts are also notable: he appeared in the film Zarathustra: I, Giacomo Casanova with the Theresia Youth Baroque Orchestra, which he directs, and he played the lead role in Broken String, a film about the life and work of composer Alessandro Stradella. In addition to early music, Astronio is interested in jazz and popular music, collaborates with various artists, and is the founder and artistic director of the early music festival "Antiqua" in Bolzano.

 

Italian singer MARINA BARTOLI performs worldwide. She has appeared in Germany (Cologne Philharmonic, Gothaer Konzerthaus, International Handel Festival Göttingen, Staatskapelle, Berlin Philharmonic, International Chamber Music Festival Leipzig, Bach Music Festival Würzburg), Italy, Switzerland, France, Austria, Austria, Spain, Romania, Ireland, Turkey, Turkey, Israel, Canada, Japan and the United States. M. Bartoli has sung under the baton of renowned conductors, has performed roles in various operas, has collaborated with many ensembles and orchestras playing early instruments, and has been recorded by Sony, Naïve, Dynamic, Brilliant, CPO, and Warner Chappell Music on disc. She is currently a professor at the Licinio Refice Conservatory in Frosinone, where she teaches Renaissance and Baroque singing. She has a keen interest in physical theatre and has taken various classes in mime and mask theatre with companies such as Larven, Quelli di Grock and Familie Flöz.

 

Cellist MARCO FREZZATO became interested in ancient instruments and the performance of early music from an early age. He collaborates with numerous baroque and early music ensembles, orchestras and performers. M. Frezzato has been involved in numerous recordings on labels such as Archiv, Deutsche Grammphon, Decca, L'Oiseau-Lyre, EMI, Onyx, Virgin Classics, Harmonia Mundi, BIS, Naive, Alpha and Claves, "Arts, Carus, Stradivarius, Amadeus, Ludi Musici, ORF, Fra' Bernardo, as well as on Arte, Mezzo, Radio France, BBC, Rai RadioTre, ORF, RSI, NDR, WDR, SWR. Together with violinists Fiorenza de Donatis and Andrea Rognoni and violist Stefano Marcocchi, he founded the AleaEnsemble string quartet, whose speciality is the performance of the string quartet repertoire of the Classical and Romantic periods on old instruments.