Francesco Geminiani: Concerto Grosso in D minor (“La Follia”)Johann Adolph Hasse: Larinda e Vanesio – intermezzo – firstGiuseppe Torelli: Concerto Grosso in G minor (“Christmas”), Op. 8/6Johann Adolph Hasse: Larinda e Vanesio – intermezzo – secondAntonio Vivaldi: Trio Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 1/7, RV 65 – Allemanda + SarabandaJohann Adolph Hasse: Larinda e Vanesio – intermezzo – thirdMidori Seiler’s last appearance with the BFO was cathartic. The violinist, with her deep knowledge of baroque music, has been called a “brilliantly talented and impressively informed” musician, who infuses each note she plays with meaning. This year, she returns to the orchestra’s baroque ensemble as a friend, to “play in Italian”.Although Hasse was born in Germany, he studied with Alessandro Scarlatti and went on to become the most important representative of Italian opera in German-speaking countries. His dynamic intermezzo, comprised mainly of recitatives and arias, provides the frame of the concert in three parts. Because he started out as a singer, he was most interested in arias and melody. This concert will feature the Italian baritone Fulvio Bettini in banter with Yeree Suh, already familiar to BFO audiences. “Yeree Suh, possessing dexterous vocal technique, unleashes coloraturas with tremendous superiority; her performance was top-notch as a singer and an actress,” Fidelio noted following her concert with the BFO in 2014. The singers will appear wearing period costumes and complement their performance with baroque gestures.The Hasse piece, broken into three parts, incorporates a little bit of madness in the beginning with Geminiani’s concerto grosso, entitled La Follia (“Frenzy”). The folia is one of the oldest wandering themes in European music, likely serving as a fast-spaced, passionate fertility dance, featured in the works of more than 150 composers. Geminiani himself reworked one of Corelli’s violin sonatas.Following the second intermezzo, the evening will feature a celebratory Christmas concerto by Torelli, considered the father of the violin concerto. The concert concludes with a masterful duet in the third intermezzo.
It is probably impossible to summarize this miraculous story of Mowgli, Bagheera who escaped from the cage of the human society, the wise Baloo, the mysterious Kaa or the vengeful Shere Khan. The Jungle Book is about birth and death, solitude and partnership, about the magic of youth – so everything which can happen with a kid who had grown up with wolves.
