Robert Hollingworth director

Insalata

A musical banquet of secular Renaissance dishes

Prepare your tastebuds for an assault on the senses by the vocal ensemble I Fagiolini, one of the University’s ensembles in residence.  From France, amuses-bouches both suave and Rabelasian include John Fulljames’ staging of Janequin’s celebrated ‘Le chant des oiseaux’.  Cross the Pyrenees for foot-tapping tapas and an actual ‘ensalada’ (implying a mix of languages and dance steps) from Valencia with strong Pythonesque overtones.  Across the Mediterranean to Italy with a beautiful sweep of works including Willaert’s eulogy to a famous Venetian singer and Striggio’s to the ‘leopard’, Queen Elizabeth I. This aural feast ends with a selection from Monteverdi’s finest vintage: 1603 and his incomparable fourth book of madrigals.

‘[I Fagiolini] has carved out a niche for itself exploring some more ‘off-the-wall’ corners of early music in a style that is at once true to the period but communicative to today’s listener.’ Daily Telegraph

sponsored by

http://www.ifagiolini.com/