Programs
These are solo concert programs that I am available to play at relatively short notice, all for solo lute family instruments. Each is in the area of 45 minutes.
“Mandò in luce sotto l'ombra” -
The Music of Michelangelo Galilei
“Mandò in luce sotto l'ombra” - The Music of Michelangelo Galilei is a program of music by early 17th-century lutenist Michelangelo Galilei, the brother of the famous Galileo Galilei. Featured are expressive and virtuosic toccatas, with foils in the form of rhythmically complex dance pieces. As an Italian performer, living in Munich, and often writing in French dance idioms, Galilei's music represents a cosmopolitan style that is harmonically adventurous, varied in affect, and ultimately very accessible.
11 years Galileo's junior, Michelangelo learned lute playing and composing from their father, the celebrated lutenist and music theorist Vincenzo Galilei. After a period of unemployment as a young musician, Michelangelo found long term work in Poland, and later in Germany, where his sole collection of solo lute music, Primo libro d ‘intavolatura di Iiuto, was published in 1620. Present are a mix of Italian and French stylistic elements. Toccatas represent the influence of his father and the Italian national style he would have played in his youth, the toccata being the preferred form of improvised-sounding piece for Italian composers. The dances (correntes and voltas, along with a gagliarda and a passamezzo) on the other hand are representative of the French "broken" style, which involves harp-like chord arpeggiations in lieu of traditional counterpoint.
This program is set to be performed as a part of Pegasus Early Music’s Pegasus Rising program, and NYS Baroque’s Young Artist’s program in upstate New York in November 2024! See the Events page for details.
“La Comete” -
Lute Music of the French Baroque
A collection of solo lute dance pieces by Denis Gaultier, from the 1652 collection of his music, "La Rhétorique des Dieux", and Jacques Gallot, from various manuscript sources of his work. In La Rhetorique..., Denis' works are renamed for, and accompanied by short prose descriptions of figures of Greek myth, lending a programmatic element to the music that, while not essential to the enjoyment of Gaultier's truly exemplary compositions, enhances and adds a singular context to the compiled pieces. Gallot's music is harmonically rich and adventurous, with less economical, but equally as effective, textures in comparison to Gaultier.
“Infernum” -
The Music of John Dowland and His Contemporaries
The end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th was a golden age for the lute in England. An increase in the instrument’s popularity in the time of Henry VIII led to the development of a unique national style combining the contrapuntal writing of continental Europe with the tunefulness of the English ballad tradition. The finest of the English lute players and composers was John Dowland, who left behind a wealth of beautiful and virtuosic solo lute pieces. Many of the pieces on this program reflect the English preoccupation with Melancholy, a humor associated with intelligence and creativity, as well as a glum affect typified by literary figures like Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet. Alongside pieces by Dowland, this program features works by contemporaries of his such as Anthony Holborne, John Danyel, Robert Johnson, and more.
