This program celebrates the great musical tradition of the Italian baroque, bringing on stage the works of masters such as Locatelli, Albinoni, Scarlatti and Paradisi. The idiomatic cantabile, the unmatched virtuosic and improvisatory component of this repertoire will be the core of an evening of flute and harpsichord, two of the most important instruments of the European 700s.

Pietro Antonio Locatelli, born in Bergamo in 1695, was one of the most important composers of the Baroque era. His legendary skills on the violin made of him a source of inspiration for the great Niccolò Paganini. According to his contemporaries, Locatelli never missed a note in front of an audience. Locatelli built a solid career in Italy and abroad, and left behind an important body of compositions, including twelve flute sonatas of immense beauty.

 

Tommaso Albinoni is one of the greatest among the Italian masters of the Baroque era. Born in Venice in 1671 in a comfortable economic situation, in the first part of his life he composed without professional ambition. Only at thirty-eight years old, after the death of his father, Tommaso started a real career as a composer and got immediate recognition for his works for the stage, his concerti and his sonatas.

 

Both Albinoni’s opus 6 and Locatelli opus 4 can be performed on the violin or the flute. Inside these remarkable pages one can find deeply inspired slow movements, energetic dances, and virtuosic allegri, all conceived in a style that, because of its transparent simplicity, immediately touches the heart of the listeners. The virtuosic language of these works emphasizes the natural qualities of the flute and allows the performer to demonstrate all the improvisational flair that he/she can master. The expression of the affetti is the priority of the evocative, deeply inspired slow movements whereas brilliance and virtuosic playing are the core of the fast ones where the prodigious violinistic language of the composers pervades the flute.

​

In between Locatelli’s and Albinoni's work, the program presents some precious gems for solo keyboard composed by other Italian maestri: Domenico Scarlatti (Napoli, 1685 – Madrid, 1757) e Pietro Domenico Paradisi (Napoli, 1707 – Venezia, 1791), fundamental references of the keyboard school of the 1700s

​

On stage Vincenzo Lai and Nijolė Dorotėja Beniušytė, members of the ensemble Reunion de Musiciens.

​

​

​