CONCERTO GROSSO - THE BIG CIRCUS
Telemann–Händel–Farina–Muffat–Rameau
FiBO Collegium, students, young music enthusiasts, circus people, gymnasts, choir singers, guests from abroad... and amazing Steven Player who will connect the dots by dancing literally all over the place.
When the Finnish Baroque Orchestra’s educational FiBO Collegium team is joined by flocks of young music enthusiasts for the Concerto Grosso at the Music Centre, the day’s orchestra counts more than a whopping 500 musicians!
The Concerto Grosso 2014 is themed by all things circus, drawing from the tricks and talents of jugglers and acrobats - but also from the abundance of colours, surprises, laughter and joy. Joy is very much the buzzword of the Concerto Grosso: Joy of music and the joy of sharing the moment, without any strict boundaries between adults and kids, between pros and amateurs. Let the Concerto Grosso bring each and every one joy, colour and warmth to these cold and grey November days!
IT ALL BEGAN WHEN…
Muffat recounted concerto grossos inspired by Corelli and how he listened to Corelli’s orchestra in Rome: ”…a huge instrumental ensemble playing beautifully and most precisely”. Cardinal Ottobon’s payrolls show that at the end of the 17th century, Corelli’s orchestra consisted in a normal setting of 23 violins, 7 violas, 8 cellos, 5 basses, 2 archlutes and 2 cembalos. Special occasions called for 70-80 musicians, but story has it that at times there may have been as many as 150!
More recent history: The Finnish Baroque Orchestra organized the first ever Concerto Grosso à la Fibo in the autumn of 2013. The Music Centre’s stage was packed with 350 musicians, but adding choir singers and other performers, the whole ensemble exceeded 400 people. In 2014, the cast of the Concerto Grosso will be more than 500.
PROGRAMME OF THE EVENING CONCERT
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759)
Water Music from Suites I F major and II D major HWV 349
Telemann
Concerto for 400 violins
Meet the Artistic Directors
Anssi Mattila and Antti Tikkanen at full throttle
incl. Mendelssohn: solo violin concerto for two players
Standing Ovations
and other oddities
Carlo Farina (ca.1600–1640)
Capriccio Stravagante
Capriciously extravagant piece featuring chickens, dogs and cats
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Georg Muffat (1653–1706)
Sonata IV (Armonico Tributo)
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764)
Suite from the opera Les Indes Galantes
PROGRAMME OF THE CHILDREN'S DAY-TIME CONCERT
The children's day-time concert features numbers from the evening concerts, as well as acrobats, chickens, roosters, dogs, cats and a whole lot of other circus-like carrying-on.
GREAT LOBBY EXPERIENCE
In the great lobby experience, every nook and cranny of the Music Centre is filled with chamber music, circus acts and workshops, live baroque karaoke and other fun stuff.