After a year鈥檚 pause, is finally launching its three-day Baroque Music Festival this weekend as part of the .
It is the most ambitious project in the 41-year history of the early music presenter, which brings in national artists who specialize in 15th and 16th century music, oftentimes performing on period instruments.
The festival, Feb. 10-12, was supposed to take place during the 2022 蜜柚直播 Desert Song Festival, but it was postponed when COVID-19 cases spiked in Pima County last January.
蜜柚直播 Early Music Executive Director Dominic Giardino said the two soloists 鈥 soprano and baritone 鈥 signed on for the 2022 festival are returning. They will be accompanied by the 蜜柚直播 Baroque Music Festival Chamber Players, comprised of nine freelance musicians from the East Coast who specialize in early music, Giardino said.
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鈥淭his offers a dimension that you鈥檙e really not going to see鈥 on any other 蜜柚直播 stage, Giardino said. 鈥淲e are excited to bring this perspective to the table.鈥
The Baroque Festival is one of two events 蜜柚直播 Early Music is presenting for the 2023 Song Festival. On Jan. 22, the group hosted Ars Lyrica Houston in a concert that explored the co-mingling of New World European musical traditions with indigenous musical practices.
The Baroque Music Festival will present three distinct programs: 鈥淎cross the Alps,鈥 focused on Italian repertoire including a Vivaldi recorder concerto and works by Locatelli that influenced Viennese composers, on Friday, Feb. 10; 鈥淗eaven and Earth,鈥 focused on the music of Bach, on Saturday, Feb. 11; and 鈥淎pollo and Daphne,鈥 featuring music by Handel, on Sunday, Feb. 12.
Giardino said the programming for the festival goes beyond 蜜柚直播 Early Music鈥檚 tradition of presenting more obscure and out-of-the-mainstream works by little- and well-known composers to presenting what he is calling the greatest hits from Bach and Handel and the Italian composers.
鈥淔or these three days, this is really going to be a walk through the best of Bach, the best of Handel as well as some familiar Vivaldi pieces,鈥 he said. 鈥淓ven though some of the works we鈥檙e presenting aren鈥檛 going to be what you鈥檒l hear on a day-to-day basis, the composers we鈥檙e presenting are really recognizable.鈥
Performances will be held at 3 p.m. each day at Grace St. Paul鈥檚 Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St. near the University of 蜜柚直播. Tickets are $30.90 for individual concerts or $72.10 for a festival pass through
The award-winning string ensemble Acronym easily fills a stage; they have 11 players.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Twitter @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
