This August you can see us play in two quite unusual locations: Escalarre and Camprodon. Indeed, bringing early music to places with fewer opportunities to enjoy live concerts is the spirit of FeMAP, the Festival of Early Music of the Pyrenees, where we will perform on August 24th and 25th in the company of mezzo-soprano Marta Infante.
Another axis that inspires FeMAP's activity is highlighting the Romanesque architectural heritage of the Pyrenees. In our case, the venues will be the beautiful church of Santa Maria d'Àneu (24/08), famous for its mural paintings, and the Benedictine monastery of Sant Pere de Camprodon (25/08), built in the 10th century. We are eager to discover the acoustics of these historic spaces and let ourselves be inspired by their beauty.
We have named the program Nel profondo cieco mondo in honor of Vivaldi and his opera Orlando furioso. During the evening we will also enjoy excerpts from other stage works by the Red Priest, such as Orlando finto pazzo, Il Farnace and Ottone in villa. The Venetian composer, who enjoyed extraordinary success in his lifetime, remains very famous, but of his vast repertoire of over 700 works very few are performed regularly. We want to contribute to preserving his memory in the best way possible: by bringing his music everywhere.
In addition to taking care of the universal repertoire, Vespres d’Arnadí aims to recover Catalan heritage. For some time, we have become champions of the prodigious musician Domènec Terradellas, born in Barcelona in 1713, who developed his triumphant career in Naples. We are thus talking about the rich tradition of operas requiring great vocal prowess, wild bravura and unlimited pyrotechnics. From Terradellas, we will hear pieces like "Dimmi che un empio" (Artaserse) and "Anderò, volerò, griderò" (Imeneo in Atene).
Our soloist, Marta Infante, is a versatile singer capable of tackling contemporary, classical, baroque, and lieder repertoire. She has recorded a large number of CDs and knows Vivaldi very well: among others, she has recorded the famous oratorio Juditha Triumphans. She will face the intricate embellishments of Vivaldi and Terradellas with her characteristic competence.
