Baroque Music Festival: The Age of Experiments

Alternative Stage founding donor 

Alternative Stage sponsor: PPC (Public Power Company)

The highly successful Baroque Music Festival renews its appointment with the Athenian audience, presenting four unique concerts at the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage, the SNFCC and the historic hall of the Parnassos Literary Society. The enchanting world of the Baroque will come alive through the versatile programme of the festival, under the artistic curatorship of the prolific artist Dimos Goudaroulis, under the title The Age of Experiments.

The Baroque Music Festival focuses on the highly original and imaginative music of the 17th century, presenting some of the most important and interesting aspects of this fertile musical period, traversing the century through four concerts with the participation of leading musicians of the European and Greek baroque scene.

First concert (24/11) • Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber – The Mystery Sonatas

Simos Papanas (baroque violin), Emanuele Forni (archlute) and Markellos Chryssicos (harpsichord) perform the famous collection of 15 sonatas for violin and basso continuo by the Austrian composer and virtuoso violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber.

Second concert (29/11) • Arcangelo Corelli, opus 5 – 1700, the end of an era

Dimos Goudaroulis (violoncello piccolo), Andreas Linos (viola da gamba) and Markellos Chryssicos (harpsichord) perform the iconic sonatas for violin and basso continuo, opus 5 by Arcangelo Correlli. Guest of the ensemble is one of the most recognized and active lutenists of the new generation, the Italian Emanuele Forni.

Third concert (30/11) • All Sorts of Rare and Modern Inventions – Instrumental music from Galileo’s Italy

Fani Vovoni (baroque violin), Iason Ioannou (baroque cello) and Panos Iliopoulos (harpsichord) perform instrumental canzonas and sonatas of the early Italian baroque. They are joined by the important Bulgarian violinist Zefira Valova, director of the Sofia Baroque Arts Festival.

Fourth concert (1/12) • Mad Songs – England, second half of the 17^th century

The stunning French soprano Chantal Santon Jeffery, accompanied by a distinctive and sophisticated French-Hellenic ensemble of exceptional musicians, performs exquisite samples of "mad songs", a genre of song that flourished in England in the second half of the 17th century. With the participation of: Mélanie Flahaut, Marion Le Moal (Renaissance and Baroque wind instruments), Lucas Schneider, Andreas Linos (violas da gamba), Bertrand Cuiller (clavichord), Miguel Henry (Renaissance and Baroque plucked instruments, arrangements).

Co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and National Resources.