Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Foreign Affairs: Characters of the Baroque
Part of Mix and Mingle.
Performers
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Program
TELEMANN Overture Suite in B-flat Major, TWV 55:B5, "Les nations"
BACH "Brandenburg" Concerto No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049
HANDEL Suite from Almira
VIVALDI Concerto in D Minor for Two Oboes, Strings, and Continuo, RV 535
REBEL Les caractères de la danse
Encores:
TELEMANN "Attacking the Windmills" from Suite "Burlesque de Quixotte," TWV 55:G10
GEOFFRY WHARTON "Wharton's Hoedown"
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
Dance music was popular among all echelons of European society, but it was the minuet, sarabande, gavotte, and other courtly dances that exerted the strongest influence on Baroque composers and, not coincidentally, appealed most naturally to their aristocratic patrons and employers. That influence bore fruit in a myriad of dance-inspired instrumental works such as Telemann’s programmatic “Les nations” Overture Suite; the staged dances that Handel wrote for his debut opera, Almira; and Jean-Fery Rebel’s choreographic “fantasy,” Les caractères de la danse.
Virtuosity is another common thread that underlies Baroque composers’ interest in dramatic expression and technical display, as evidenced by the proliferation of instrumental concertos in the 18th century. Both Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 4 in G Major, featuring solo parts for violin and alto recorders, and Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Oboes, Strings, and Continuo illustrate the growing taste for music that pitted two groups of instrumentalists against each other in a kind of friendly competition.
Bios
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Akamus) was founded in 1982. Since its start, it has
become one of the world's leading chamber orchestras on period instruments. From New York
to Tokyo, London to Buenos Aires, Akamus has appeared at the world's most important
venues.
Akamus has established itself as one of the pillars of Berlin's cultural scene, having had
its own concert series at the Konzerthaus Berlin for more than 30 years and having
collaborated with the Staatsoper Berlin on Baroque repertoire since 1994. In addition, the
ensemble has had its own concert series at Munich's Prinzregententheater since 2012.
The ensemble has an especially close and enduring partnership with René Jacobs. Their
mutual passion to explore new paths has led to the rediscovery and reinterpretation of many
operas and oratorios to great international critical acclaim. Conductors such as Marcus
Creed, Daniel Reuss, and Hans-Christoph Rademann have an especially close relationship with
the orchestra. In the coming season, Akamus will be directed by conductors such as
Emmanuelle Haïm, Bernard Labadie, Paul Agnew, Diego Fasolis, and Rinaldo Alessandrini.
Along with working with guest conductors, the orchestra is directed often from the leader's
chair by one of its three concert masters: Bernhard Forck, Georg Kallweit, or Stephan
Mai.
To date, Akamus has sold more than one million CDs. Since 1994, its recordings have been
produced exclusively for Harmonia Mundi and have won many awards, including the Grammy,
Diapason d'Or, Cannes Classical, Gramophone, Edison, MIDEM Classical,
Choc de l'année, as well as the Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. In 2006,
Akamus received the Telemann Prize of Magdeburg, and in 2014, both the Bach Medal and ECHO
Klassik.
Akamus's most recent CD releases include Handel's Water Music, Mendelssohn's
Elijah (conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann), and Bach's St. John
Passion (conducted by René Jacobs).