{"id":58507,"date":"2019-02-05T14:13:20","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T19:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=58507"},"modified":"2019-02-06T10:01:45","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T15:01:45","slug":"primer-enrico-onofri-to-make-his-tafelmusik-debut-with-a-program-exploring-tempests-and-battles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/02\/05\/primer-enrico-onofri-to-make-his-tafelmusik-debut-with-a-program-exploring-tempests-and-battles\/","title":{"rendered":"PRIMER | Enrico Onofri To Make His Tafelmusik Debut With A Program Exploring Tempests And Battles"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Violinist
Violinist and conductor Enrico-Onofri (Photo: Giampiero Bianchi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This week,\u00a0the mercurial Enrico Onofri makes his Tafelmusik debut with The Tempestuous Violins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beginning his career as concertmaster of Jordi Savall\u2019s ‘La Capella Real’ when he was still a student, Enrico has been mesmerizing the world with his performances as both violinist\/conductor and director. In particular, his leadership with the Il Giardino Armonico (1987-2010) has been a spectacular success, and with the invitation of Elisa Citterio, Torontonians finally get to see Enrico in action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a selection based on the idea of the ancient meaning of the word concerto<\/em>,\u201d Enrico says. \u201cActually, that word has two different roots: the main one seems to come from the Latin noun concentus<\/em> (from conserere<\/em>, \u2018to gather\u2019 or also \u2018to dialogue\u2019); the other possible one is the old Italian verb concertare<\/em> and\/or certare<\/em> (\u2018to fight\u2019 or \u2018to compete\u2019). Hence, the instrumental concerto is a real battle between one or more soloists and\/or the orchestra, but at same time it’s an attempt to gather the instruments through the dialogue created by that contrast. It seemed me to be an interesting matter: a \u2018love battle\u2019 of instruments, but also a battle between the passions which animates early baroque music, in the frame of the tempestuous mood of the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skirting the most familiar baroque concertos such as the Four Season<\/em>s and the Brandenburg Concertos<\/em>, half of Enrico\u2019s selections will be the first performance for Tafelmusik, an exceptional experience even for seasoned Tafelmusik members.<\/p>\n

Charlotte Nediger explains: \u201cThere are indeed reams of music from all centuries that we generally don\u2019t hear \u2014 and many, many treasures to be found in the 17th-century. In recent years, musicians increasingly have access to the music, which previously had been hard to obtain. This is fantastic, though many are only in old manuscripts or publications, and most not in score form, so it takes more effort and exploration than later repertoire. The effort is amply rewarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Nediger is also aware of this gamble \u2014 of unfamiliarity: \u201cThe next challenge is to draw audiences. We are lucky in that many of our regular audience members are willing to buy tickets for music of which they have little or no experience \u2014 they trust us to offer something compelling. Some more occasional attendees are drawn to familiar names \u2014 Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart \u2014 and are less likely to spend money on something they can\u2019t define. So our challenge is to convince them to give it a try. The first half is a tapestry of shorter pieces spanning the first half of the 17th-century: some pieces look back stylistically, and some look forward. There are pieces for various combinations of solo instruments and others for orchestra. In the second half, we\u2019re back with more familiar Corelli and Vivaldi \u2014 with a bit of English music by Locke for good measure. In all, I think it will be a delightful journey!\u201d<\/p>\n

Christopher Verrette, the presenter of pre-concert chat for this week, points out another familiar element \u2014 the element of mentorship, and the freshness that brings to this joyous band of musicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy inviting Enrico as our guest we are continuing something that Jeanne Lamon also did, bringing people that were her own mentors, like Frans Brueggen, Sigiswald Kuijken and Anne Bylsma,” explained Verrette. “For most of us this will be our first time working with Enrico, and it\u2019s kind of cool especially in an anniversary year for the orchestra to have this experience that will be at once new and part of our background through his teaching of Elisa.”<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s Enrico\u2019s own history that made him particularly receptive to the new<\/em>:\u00a0 \u201cWhen I started to play baroque music in Italy we didn\u2019t have schools teaching historical performance like in North Europe.\u201d This nonexistence of conventions was a crucial element for Enrico: “\u2026It\u2019s been an opportunity rather than an absence, because some musicians of my generation emigrated to the North of the continent, but some others created their own \u2018schools\u2019 in Italy, exactly as the Northern European masters did a couple of decades earlier. I\u2019m part of the group who stayed in Italy, focusing on the historical sources on Italian repertoire by means of our Italian view and understanding.”<\/p>\n