Cape Town Baroque Festival: 2023 fest features music from Spanish Renaissance until the 21st century

Wonderful to the fabulous line-up for the 2023 Cape Town Baroque Festival- the 5^th season of the festival.  The festival starts on September 22. Check out the delicious concert, A Spanish Salad – Vocal polyphony from Renaissance Spain – on Saturday – September 23 – in the Baxter Concert Hall at 11am- which is  in the genre of ensaladas : “The aptly named genre of ensaladas (literally: salads) flourished for the largest part of the 16th century in Spain, but only ten survive today… the ensaladas developed from the sacred villancico tradition: the singing of songs in the vernacular at matins in chapels and cathedrals on feast days, or as theatrical performance spectacles before the Mass.” Read on for more about the concert on Saturday (September 23) and for info about the other concerts.  Each event is listed separately but a Festival Pass for all the concerts are available from Quicket https://www.quicket.co.za/events/231042-ct-baroque-festival-pass/#/ Tickets for the Baxter concert on September 23, via Webtickets. However, if you purchase a festival pass via Quicket, the pass will ALSO provide you entrance to the Baxter concert.

2023 Cape Town Baroque Festival

The Cape Town Baroque Orchestra is proud to present the 2023 Cape Town Baroque Festival. The festival features music from the Spanish Renaissance up until the 21st century, yet all relating to the Baroque aesthetic.

A Spanish Salad – Vocal polyphony from Renaissance Spain

On Saturday September 23, the Festival will once again collaborate with the Cape Town Concert Series and the early vocal ensemble The Lutesong Consort for a programme titled A Spanish Salad – Vocal polyphony from Renaissance Spain. The aptly named genre of ensaladas (literally: salads) flourished for the largest part of the 16th century in Spain, but only ten survive today. These highly entertaining religious allegories tell of redemption from various natural disasters, and contain a mix of references to popular songs, chant and onomatopoeic nonsense syllables in a variety of metres. The ensaladas developed from the sacred villancico tradition: the singing of songs in the vernacular at matins in chapels and cathedrals on feast days, or as theatrical performance spectacles before the Mass.

Lutesong Consort will perform two ensaladas by Mateo de Flecha (1481–1553) and the ensemble of four singers and period instruments will present sacred and secular villancicos by Francisco Guerrero, Bartomeo Carcères, Juan de Encina and Cristobal de Morales. The vocal works for four singers will be interspersed with instrumental pieces by Luis de Milan, Luis de Narvaez, Alonso Mudarra and Diego Ortiz.

This concert features Lynelle Kenned (soprano), Lente Louw (mezzo-soprano), Jason Atherton (tenor) and Keaton Manwaring (bass) and an ensemble of period instruments led by Erik Dippenaar.

The concert takes place in the Baxter Concert Hall at 11am. Tickets from Webtickets. However, if you purchase a Festival Pass, via Quicket (see link in box), then the ticket to the Baxter, is included, so easy peasy.

Other highlights of the 2023 Cape Town Baroque Festival include:

September 24, Noordhoek, 2pm:  the 80th birthday celebration of local harpsichord and organ builder William Selway (Bill) Robson with a series of short concerts in the chapel which he restored during the Covid-19 pandemic from a 1790 farmhouse, as well as tours through his workshop

September 27: Spin Street, 7pm: Brief Tales for Two featuring nternational guest artists Anna Fusek (baroque violin, recorder, spinetta) and Gianluca Geremia (theorbo, guitar)

October 1: St Andrews Presbyterian Church, 4pm: Double Trouble Festival Finale featuring several exciting double concerti, focussing on the dynamic dialogue between two solo instruments and orchestra, and how different composers used this for expressive and dramatic purposes. The concert will be preceded by a talk by Anna Stoddard of FMR’s ‘Baroque Bon Bons’.

Concerti by Vivaldi, Telemann and Bach

With: Anna Fusek (recorder and baroque violin), Annien Shaw (baroque violin), Ingo Müller (baroque oboe), Rosamund Ender (viola da gamba) and the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra

Sunday, October 1, 16:00, pre-concert talk at 15:15 -St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, De Waterkant

Tickets from Quicket https://www.quicket.co.za/events/231042-ct-baroque-festival-pass/#/

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