Italian music, English style – La Serenissima celebrates the Italian musicians who shaped the English baroque, and the continental composers who wrote with an English accent.

English music has never been an island. In the baroque era, the musical traffic between Britain and the continent went both ways, with leading composers of all nations assimilating each other’s voices in an exuberant multinational riot of styles and sounds. La Serenissima – the flamboyant British ensemble that takes its name (and its energy) from Venice – dives into that melting pot today, celebrating the music of Purcell and his brilliant (but still little-known) Anglo-Italian follower Nicola Matteis, and tracing their legacy through a generation of European composers, including Telemann and the astonishing, wildly imaginative music of Giuseppe Brescianello.

Programme

Purcell – Chacony in G minor
Nicola Matteis the Younger – Violin Concerto in B flat
Francesco Bartolomeo Conti – Overture to Il finto Policare
Telemann – Ouverture-Suite in G minor
Giuseppe Brescianello – Ouverture-Suite in C
Vivaldi – Violin Concerto in E minor, Il favorito, RV 277
Nicola Matteis the Younger – ‘Ballo’ from Il finto Policare
Giuseppe Brescianello – Chaconne in A major

Performers

La Serenissma