MAD SONGS

Description

The highly successful Baroque Music Festival, a collaboration between the Greek National Opera and the Thessaloniki Concert Hall comes to your screens via GNO TV with four unique concerts that focus on the highly original and imaginative music of the 17th century. Iconic works by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber and Arcangelo Corelli, instrumental music of rare beauty from Galileo’s Italy and eclectic “mad songs” come to life through the versatile programme of the festival, titled The Age of Experiments, that was presented at the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage, at the SNFCC, on 24, 29, and 30 November and in the historic hall of the Parnassos Literary Society on 1 December 2024.

This year’s Baroque Music Festival, curated by the prolific and highly active artist Dimos Goudaroulis and in collaboration with the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, presents some of the most important and interesting aspects of the fertile musical period of the 17^th century.
The Festival’s programme traverses this century through four concerts, featuring leading European and Greek baroque musicians and highlighting early baroque music's open and restless spirit and experimental character. The programme includes pieces ranging from the outward-looking and daring Italian instrumental music of Galileo’s time to the unique and enigmatic Mystery Sonatas by Austrian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, and from the unconventional “mad songs” that flourished in England in the second half of the 17th century to Arcangelo Corelli’s iconic opus 5, which was published on 1 January 1700 and marked the transition from the music of the 17th century to that of the 18th.

About the concert:
The second half of the 17^th century witnessed the flourishing of a song genre that gained immense popularity in England, combining poetry, drama, and music in an original manner, known as “mad songs”. Composers such as Henry and Daniel Purcell, John Blow and John Eccles produced numerous songs with highly experimental character, complex forms and melodies, bold harmonies and dramatic shifts of emotions inspired by the theme of madness.

The stunning French soprano Chantal Santon Jeffery, known for her performances in Europe’s most prestigious halls, opera houses, and festivals, accompanied by a distinctive and sophisticated French-Hellenic ensemble of exceptional musicians, presented exquisite samples of "mad songs”, typically written for voice and basso continuo. These pieces were showcased in original transcriptions that emphasize the unique and sophisticated timbres of the rare baroque ensemble instruments.

The production “Baroque Music Festival” is part of the GNO Alternative Stage’s unit of programming titled “MUSIC THEATRE DAYS”, which falls under the ACT “FESTIVAL EVENTS OF THE GNO ALTERNATIVE STAGE 2024-2025” » (MIS 6002467) with code 2024ΕΠ08570049 (Priority: “Fostering regional social cohesion through the enhancement of mechanisms and infrastructure to support employment, education, health care and socioeconomic inclusion” of the programme “Attica 2021-2027) and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and National Resources.

The funding body of the project is the Ministry of Culture, within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan "Greece 2.0" with funding from the European Union - NextGeneration EU.