Imagine yourself in the court of Count Morzin, a wealthy musical amateur who maintained an ensemble of top-level virtuosi in his sumptuous residence in Prague’s Malá Strana. Of cosmopolitan taste, Morzin was drawn particularly to music from Across the Alps by Antonio Vivaldi, whose bold new style had taken Europe by storm. Music printers in Amsterdam made Vivaldi’s music accessible to musicians to play and to imitate, and Morzin commissioned music from Vivaldi for his private music parties. Our program explores music that would have been known to Morzin by composers from both sides of the Alps. In addition to a trio sonata in Vivaldi’s unmistakable idiom, we play music by Johann Friedrich Fasch who spent time at Morzin’s residence around 1720, Fortunato Chelleri who hailed from Parma, but spent most of his life writing Italian-style music for German patrons, cellist Arcangelo Califano who may have written his music for double reeds when visiting Prague with the Dresden orchestra, and Johann Georg Orschler who wrote music for courts across Bohemia that illustrates the Red Priest’s pervasive influence on transalpine composers.

ADMISSION
$25 advance | $30 door
$10 off for seniors and students
Limited space — advance purchase recommended

FEATURING
Geoffrey Burgess and Meg Owens | oboes & recorders
Stephanie Corwin | bassoon
Rebecca Humphrey | cello & viola da gamba
Leon Schelhase | harpsichord