SESTINA

Present   The Pain and The Pleasure

From sublime madrigals of love and loss to irreverent entertainments for the Venetian Carnival

The music ensemble Sestina will perform some of the finest music ever written from Claudio Monteverdi’sBook 8 of madrigals (Madrigals of Love and War) where the composer explores the musical language of the contrasting emotions of the amorous and Martial.

Included in the selection is the stunning Lamento della Ninfa where the solo soprano is instructed to sing “not to the beat of the hand, but to the beat of the heart” in a free improvisatory style. The madrigals will be interspersed by violin music by Marini and Merula.

The second half will consist of music written purely for entertainment. Adriano Banchieri’s  Il Festino nella sera dell giovedi grasso avanti cena (feast for the eve of Fat Thursday of Carnival)

Fat Thursday is celebrated as the last Thursday before Lent begins (very similar to our own Shrove Tuesday) where the tradition is to eat all things sweet and indulge in the pleasures of laughter and food with friends.

Banchieri’s music has a selected cast of Cats, Dogs, filthy Monks, ugly women and lost lovers.

Sestina will collaborate with the world renowned Theorbo player Paula Chateauneuf and professional tenor Matthew Long who recently recorded the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Fiona Flynn, Caroline Jones – Soprano

Laura Lamph – Alto

Matthew Long, Thomas Herford – Tenor

Brian McAlea, Aaron O’Hare – Bass

Carolyn Hall, Colin Norrby - Violin

Paula Chateauneuf – Theorbo

Mark Chambers – Musical Director