Venetian Christmas

Early music never sounds so good as during Christmas. Best when played by specialists in historical performance. Arte dei Suonatori is the most famous Polish baroque orchestra that constantly cooperates with musicians from around the world. Established on the initiative of Ewa and Aureliusz Goliński in 1993, it has made numerous recordings and concert projects, including a series of concerts "Early music – persona grata".

The ensemble will present a repertoire with the music of composers associated mainly with Venice – from baroque to classicism. The famous "Red priest" by Antonio Vivaldi does not need any presentation, but the characters Giuseppe Torelli, Johann Adolf Hasse and Giovanni Agostin Perotti can remain unknown to listeners who are not familiar with early music.

Giuseppe Torelli, an Italian violinist and composer, is considered to be one of the founders of the concerto grosso and solo concerto genres. He was primarily associated with the Bologna centre, although for a short time he was also active at the margrave Brandenburg-Ansbach court and Vienna.

Johann Adolf Hasse is, in turn, a German composer, one of the most important German creators of the late Baroque. He arrived in Venice in 1727 while traveling around Italy, and there he met his future wife, singer Faustina Bordoni. An important element in Hasse’s biography is the Polish motif – in 1731 he was invited by August II Strong to Dresden and appointed a "royal-Polish and electral-Saxon bandmaster" – he remained in that position for two years. In the later years of his life he settled in Venice at the request of his wife.

Italian composer and conductor Giovanni Agostino Perotti, the youngest in this group, educated in Bologna, was active in Vienna in his youth and then in London. He returned to Italy at the beginning of the 19th century – then he settled in Venice, where he became the conductor of Cappella Marciana, the chief ensemble of the Basilica San Marco. He primarily created sacral music.