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available online > Roma ‘600: A Baroque Concert

Roma ‘600: A Baroque Concert

 

Let us take you on a musical journey through 17th-century Rome, the rowdy and glorious city where Caravaggio and Stradella lived. From the marvelous setting of the theatre at the National Roman Museum – Palazzo Altemps (Rome), the baroque “power” trio I Bassifondi amused us with pieces by Kapsberger, Foscarini and Marchetti, together with light dances and popular songs for guitar.

In their first album, “Alfabeto Falso”, I Bassifondi refreshed the image of the Baroque guitar and its harmonic extravaganzas, and with “Roma ‘600”, the ensemble brings back to life the music of that time with inspired and imaginative improvisation. 

  

This concert is presented in collaboration with CIDIM (Comitato Nazionale Italiano Musica) and the Museo Nazionale Romano – Palazzo Altemps, Roma 

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CONCERT (via Facebook)

(originally broadcast on July 13, 2021)

 

 


  

ibassifondi

I Bassifondi

 

Most of the 17th and 18th-century music for lute, guitar, theorbo and archlute was devised and written to be played in consort with different instruments. Musicians such as Kapsberger, Corbetta, Piccinini, de Visée, Granata, Weiss and many others either composed their solo pieces with an added continuo accompaniment or arranged them from the original tablatures into regular multi-part scores. They also wrote directly for a consort of lutes, or for lute and sundry instruments. 

Several period chronicles witness on how such multi-instrumental music used to be performed. Guitarists were typically expected to be accompanied by theorboes, colasciones, lutes – and vice versa. Relying on written testimonies as well as on musical and iconographic sources, the ensemble “I Bassifondi”, founded by Simone Vallerotonda, aims to rediscover and offer the audience that same repertoire in chamber format.Their debut album “Alfabeto falso” was nominated in the ICMA 2018 (International Classical Music Award) among the best baroque instrumental records.

 

SIMONE VALLEROTONDA

simone vallerotondaBorn in Rome in 1983, Simone started studying classical guitar at a young age. At the age of 18, he fell deeply in love with early music and bought a lute without any idea on how to play it. He then took lute lessons from Andrea Damiani at the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome, where he graduated with the highest marks. He subsequently obtained a master’s degree in Theorbo and Baroque Guitar under the guidance of Rolf Lislevand at the “Staatliche Hochschule für Musik” in Trossingen (Germany), where he also graduated with the highest marks.

Once again with full honors, he graduated in Philosophy at the “Tor Vergata” University of Rome, with a PhD dissertation about the relationships between 18th-century music and French Philosophes.

In 2011, he ranked first in the soloists’ class of the International Lute Competition “Maurizio Pratola”, obtaining the highest prize in the chamber music section from REMA (Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne). 

Simone appeared at theatres and concert venues in the USA, Australia, South America and Europe, such as: New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Conservatorium, Teatro de la Ciudad in Mexico City, Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile, the Singapore Lyric Opera, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore Hall, Theater an der Wien, Theatre de Champs Élysées in Paris, Oporto’s Casa da Música, the Liszt Academy of Budapest, Berliner Philharmonie, the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome. 

Among the countless festivals which invited him: Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, Sferisterio Opera Festival, Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music, Settimane Musicali di Stresa, Ravenna Festival, Beaune Festival, Ambronay Festival, Musikefestspiele Potsdam, Bruges Festival, Utrecht Festival, Festival Actus Humanus Danzig, OperaRara Cracow, Poznan Baroque Festival.

He has recorded for major radio and television broadcasters such as RAI, ABC, BBC, Mezzo, France Musique, Radio4, Art, Polskie Radio, Kulturradio, RSI, Radio Classica, Vatican Radio, as well as for the labels Naïve, Sony, Erato, EMI, Decca, Amadeus, Brilliant, Aparté, E Lucevan Le Stelle Records, Arcana Outhere Music. 

In addition to his soloist’s activity, he takes part as a continuo player in various ensembles including: Modo Antiquo, Les Ambassadeurs, Imaginarium Ensemble, Cantar Lontano, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He teaches Lute at the “G. Rossini” Conservatory of Music in Pesaro (IT), at the “L. Refice” Conservatory of Music in Frosinone and “G. Frescobaldi” Conservatory of Music in Ferrara (IT).

In 2014, he founded “I Bassifondi”, his own ensemble offering a 17th-18th century repertoire for guitar, theorbo and lute with continuo. The concert and recording activity of Simone Vallerotonda and his ensemble I Bassifondi is supported by CIDIM (Comitato Nazionale Italiano Musica).

 

  • Organizzato da: IIC Washington
  • In collaborazione con: please see above