CONCERTO IBÉRICO – ORQUESTRA BARROCA
Da Napoli a Lisbona: Il Barocco Trionfante
ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI (1660-1725)
Concerto IX in Lá minore
allegro — largo — fuga — largo e piano — allegro
NICOLÒ PORPORA (1686-1768)
Sinfonia da Camera in Sol minore (1736)
adagio — allegro — adagio — allegro
GIOVANNI PAISIELLO (1740-1816)
Partenza ed Capriccio
largo — moderato
PEDRO ANTÓNIO AVONDANO (1714-1782)
Trio em Si minore (ap. 1750)
allegro — andante staccato e sempre piano
NICOLA FIORENZA (ap. 1700-1764)
Concerto a quattro in Lá minore (1726)
(andante) — allegro — grave — allegro CONCERTO IBÉRICO
Filipa Oliveira, flauto
Lorenzo Colitto, Raquel Cravino, violini
Inês Coelho, violoncello
João Janeiro, cembalo
SINOPSIS
Naples was undoubtedly one of the most important centres of artistic and cultural diffusion on the Italian Peninsula and in Europe. Although between the early sixteenth century and the mid-1730s it remained under foreign rule, first Spanish (1503-1707) and then Austrian (1707-1734), it was precisely during this period that the important and almost mythical ‘Neapolitan School’ was structured, which, from the late 1700s onwards, not only produced several generations of extraordinary musicians, with the system of teaching conservatories and brotherhoods, that also attracting pupils from all over Europe, until the end of the eighteenth century, but also contributed to the foundations of what is now known as the Classical Period.
The court of the Viceroyalty had already taken up the arts in the sixteenth century as a way of affirming and displaying the aristocracy of royal power, and they became an integral part of the education of princes, as was common practice in the Iberian Peninsula. It was therefore not strange that among the nobility also emerged some of the most remarkable musicians and composers. Naples thus became, alongside Venice and Rome, one of the main European centres of musical diffusion, receiving from these other two kingdoms various influences, and in return exporting musicians, styles and compositional practices, where the genres of opera and the keyboard music tradition stand out. The soloists of CONCERTO IBÉRICO – Baroque Orchestra with the ‘A Napoli’ programme, presents precisely some of the exponents of the Neapolitan School who also have had a strong impact on the Lisbon Court musical activity, particularly after the second quarter of the eighteenth century. Firstly, Alessandro Scarlatti has to be considered, of whom some unique sources are kept in the Coimbra archive, but also Nicolò Porpora, Giovanni Paisiello and Nicola Fiorenza, whose works can still be found in the major part of Portuguese musical archives.; and also one of the Portuguese composers who most marked Lisbon’s eighteenth-century musical life, Pedro António Avondano, prolific composer of the Lisbon Court that founded the ’Assembleia das Nações’, first private society of concerts in Portugal.
CONCERTO IBÉRICO – Baroque Orchestra has emerged from the successful cultural dynamic developed by MAAC in Centre-East region of Portugal. The orchestra has been had the principal support of Castelo Branco and Idanha-a-Nova Municipalities. Founded and directed by the harpsichordist João Janeiro, the orchestra started its activity in October 2012 and heirs the work developed by the Baroque. Since then, it has integrated some of best new generations of historical performance from all over Europe and Brasil. CONCERTO IBÉRICO has presented more than fifty different orchestral programs in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, with a particular emphasis on Bach’s orchestral and solo concerts, and also Iberian and Southern Europe musical heritages like UNESCO – Creative Cities, Differencias Project, David Perez’s Morti Matuttino de Morti, and Neapolitan influenced works. In 2014, CONCERTO IBÉRICO has started several international collaborations, and has worked with several renowned European violinists, among them, Lorenzo Colitto, Monica Waisman, Florian Deuter, Beyond other projects, in 2016, has performed Bach’s St. John Passion under the direction of Ketil Haugsand and made his first live recorded CD. In 2018/2019 season, CONCERTO IBÉRICO presented J. S. Bach’s St. Mathew Passion with a fantastic soloist team; in 2021/2022 has performed the complete Bach’s Brandenburg Concerts and G. F. Handel’s ‘The Messiah’ Oratory with also renowned soloists and Lorenzo Colitto as principal invited concertino. The CD ‘A Napoli’ that will be released in 2023 is dedicated to orchestral music influenced by the Neapolitan school, from symphonies to solo concerts of Francesco Durante, Leonardo Leo, David Perez, Nicolò Porpora and Alessandro Scarlatti.
