Zo 14 juli 16:00 Il Giardino Musicale – La viola de gamba nella Europa Barroca by the great musicians Juan Manuel Quintana & Shizuko Noiri

Il Giardino Musicale
The viola da gamba and the lute enjoyed great fame for more than two centuries, and occupied a place of predilection within European chamber music, thanks to the beauty of their timbres, and for the wide versatility of nuances, resonance and polyphonic skills of both instruments.

At the French court of Louis XIV (1638-1715), the viola da gamba acquired a preponderant role and reached its maximum splendor. By the year 1680, the composer and viola da gambist Monsieur de Ste. Colombe (who presumably has added the seventh string to the viol) was one of the musicians responsible for having raised the technique of the instrument. His student Marin Marais has also acquired a great reputation, and was crowned as one of the most important musicians of his generation. Direct heir of the purest French style developed by Jean-Baptiste Lully, and undoubtedly the most successful violist who had the kingdom of France at the time, Marin Marais published five books containing pieces for viola da gamba. The suite included in our program belongs to his fifth book, edited when he was 69 years old.

During the second half of the 18th century, Karl Friederich Abel was probably the ‘viola da gamba’s last virtuoso’. He was born in Köethen where his father, Christian Ferdinand Abel, had worked for years as the principal viola da gamba and cello player in the court orchestra, becoming its director when in 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach moved to Leipzig. It is very likely that the young Karl later boarded at St. Thomas School in Leipzig, where he was taught by Bach. Abel struck up a long friendship with Bach's youngest son, Johann Christian, with whom years later he founded a concert society in London. His works reflect a perfect knowledge of the capabilities of the instrument and an absolute handling of the style of his time. The four pieces presented at this program belong to a manuscript that is preserved in the United States.

The other two works that we will present are not originally written for viola da gamba. Gabrielli's sonata is original for violoncello (one of the first sonatas written specifically for this instrument), and the Arcangelo Corelli's sonata was written for the violin. However, there are different manuscripts of that time with transcriptions for viola da gamba of Corelli's op. V, which may have been part of the usual repertoire of the magnificent Antoine Forqueray (an excellent violist and one of the greatest defenders of the Italian style in France).

The "declamation" proposed by Marin Marais and the "cantabile" style of Arcangelo Corelli, will be present in our program as a tribute to these two great composers and excellent instrumentalists.

Il giardino musicale - La viola da gamba nella Europa Barroca
Program

Domenico Gabrielli                                                     Sonate C Dur
Arcangelo Corelli                                                        Sonata in D Dur Op V Nr XI
Karl Friederich Abel                                                  4 pieces for Bass Gambe
Johann Sebastian Bach                                            Cello Suite Nr.1 BWV1007 ( lute solo)
Marin Marais                                                             Suite in g moll from III Buch

Viola da Gamba: Juan Manuel Quintana
Lute: Shizuko Noiri

Juan Manuel Quintana was born in Buenos Aires Argentina. He began his studies on the Viola da gamba in 1987 in his home town with Ricardo Massun. In 1991 he moved to Geneva, so he could continue his studies at the Centre de Musique Ancienne with Arianne Maurette. A year later he was accepted at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in the class of Paolo Pandolfo; from 1995 to 1997 he perfected his gamba playing at the Conservatoire superieur national de Paris with Christophe Coin. In 1995 he was Lauraet Juventus of the Conseil de l’Europe and the Institut Claude Nicolas Ledoux.

Since 1995 Juan Manuel Quintana plays with the most wellknown ensembles and Baroque orchestras like Hesperion XX, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Concerto Vocale, Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, Les Talens Lyriques, Capella Mediterranea and others on the most important stages in Europe: Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra de Paris, Cité de la Musique (Paris), Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra de Montpellier, Proms Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre (London), Salzburg Festival, Baroque Music Festival Innsbruck, Theater an der Wien, Oper Zürich, Les Folles Journées de Nantes, Teatro Arriaga (Bilbao), Teatro Real (Madrid), Palau de la Musica (Barcelona), Théâtre de la Monnaie (Brüssel), Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Berlin), Oper Amsterdam.

His recordings of the sonatas for viola da gamba by Johann Sebastian Bach, the suites by Marin Marais and the trio sonatas by Dietrich Buxtehude for Harmonia mundi France were celebrated by the international critics and he received the sought-after press award Diapason d’Or, as well as the Choc du Monde de la Musique and a nomination for the Classic Award (Cannes). There are a large number of live recordings.
He is regularly invited as a teacher to Spain, Italy, Germany and South America, in order to hand on his profound knowledge about playing the Viola da gamba and because of his experience in historical performance practice.
As a soloist he has been on stage in the Theatre de la Ville, Theatre des Abesses, Festival de la Roque d’Antheron, Les Folles Journèes à Nantes, Lisboa and Bilbao, Museum of Instruments in Berlin, Maison de Radio France, and others.
Between 1999 and 2005 he was assistant of Marc Minkowski in L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Aix en Provence, Viena and Paris), and in Giulio Cesare (Amsterdam, Paris, Viena and Zurich). Juan Manuel has conducted Les Musiciens du Louvre in 2000 in an Asia tour, and again in 2033 in Grenoble and Lyon. Since then, has conducted many projects in Argentina, including “La Resurrezione”, Rodelinda and “Agrippina” by Haendel and L’incoronazione di Poppea and Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria by Monteverdi.
In 2009 he received in Buenos Aires the Konex prize, as the best instrument player of the decade.

Shizuko Noiri
Born in Kyoto, Japan, Shizuko Noiri graduated in musicology from the Doshisha women's college in Kyoto. She began studying the lute with Ichiro Okamoto. She later moved to Switzerland, where she continued her studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, specialising in the lute and Renaissance and Baroque performing practices under Eugen Dombois and Hopkinson Smith. She obtained her solo diploma in 1991.

Performing under René Jacobs, Shizuko Noiri has over the last 20 years appeared in many opera productions, including at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik (Austria), Festival International d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence (France), Théatre des Champs-Elysées (Paris), Théatre Royal de La Monnaie (Brussels), Staatsoper (Berlin), Lincoln Center (New York), Barbican Centre (London), Theater an der Wien (Austria), Cité de la musique (Paris), Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels), Salzburger Festspiele (Austria), Teatro Avenida (Buenos Aires, under the direction of J.M. Quintana), Festival  La Folle Journée (Tokyo, under Michel Corboz) and  Tokyo Opera City (under Masaaki Suzuki).
Shizuko Noiri is a founding member of “Les Plasirs du Parnasse”, and gives frequent solo performances with the finest Baroque ensembles and musicians around the world, including Anner Bylsma, Concerto Vocale, I Musici, Freiburger Baroque Orchestra, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Ensemble 415, Concerto Köln and Bach Collegium Japan.
She has performed in the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Philharmonie & Konzerthaus (Berlin), The Royal Chapel (Versailles), Freunde alter Musik Basel (Switzerland), Gewandhaus (Leipzig), Sydney Opera House (Australia), Rubin Academy ( Israel), Palau de la Musica (Barcelona), Palacio Real (Madrid), Bolshoi Theater ( Moscow) and numerous Festivals such as Beaune and  Ambronay (France), Urbino ( Italy), Bruges (Belgium), and Prague Spring (Czech Republic).

Shizuko Noir has given masterclasses in Aix-en Provence, the Czech Republic, and at Tokyo’s University of the Arts.
Her discography includes the solo recordings Aure Nove , Toccate e danze per liuto in stile moderno under Acoustic revive, G. A. Cateliono, Intabolatura de Leuto and Giovanni Zamboni , Sonate d’ intavolatura di Leuto under the Regulus label, and other recordings with I Musici (Philips), René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi France). Additional labels include WDR, Symphonia and Zig-Zag.

(ESPAÑOL)
La viola da gamba y el laúd gozaron de gran fama durante más de dos siglos, y ocuparon un lugar de predilección dentro de la música de cámara europea, tanto por la  belleza de sus timbres, como  por la amplia versatilidad de matices, resonancia y juego polifónico de ambos instrumentos.

En la corte francesa de Luis XIV (1638-1715), la viola da gamba adquirió un rol preponderante y alcanzó su máximo esplendor. Hacia el año 1680, el compositor y violagambista Monsieur de Ste. Colombe (quien le habría agregado la séptima cuerda) fue uno de lo músicos responsables de haber elevado la técnica del instrumento. Su alumno Marin Marais adquirió luego una gran fama, y se coronó como uno de los músicos más importantes de su generación. Depositario directo del más puro estilo francés desarrollado por Jean-Baptiste Lully, y sin duda, el más eximio violista que tuvo el reino de Francia por aquel entonces, Marin Marais editó cinco libros de piezas para viola da gamba. La suite incluida en nuestro programa, pertenece al quinto libro de piezas, editado a sus 69 años de edad.

Karl Friederich Abel fue probablemente el último "virtuoso de la viola da gamba" del siglo XVIII. Nació en Köethen donde su padre, Christian Ferdinand Abel, fue un afamado violagambista y prominente miembro de la orquesta de la corte, convirtiéndose en su director cuando en 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach se mudó a Leipzig. Es muy probable que el joven Karl  haya sido más tarde, alumno de Bach en La iglesia de Santo Tomás de Leipzig. Allí, Abel entabló una larga relación con el hijo menor de Bach, Johann Christian, con quien años más tarde fundó una sociedad de conciertos en Londres. Sus obras reflejan un perfecto conocimiento de las capacidades del instrumento y un manejo absoluto del estilo de su época. Las cuatro piezas de este programa pertenecen a un manuscrito que se conserva en los Estados Unidos.

Las otras dos obras que presentaremos no son originales para viola da gamba. La sonata de Gabrielli es original para violoncello (una de las primeras sonatas escritas específicamente para este instrumento), y la sonata de Arcangelo Corelli es original para el violín. No obstante, existen diferentes manuscritos de la época con transcripciones para viola da gamba de las sonatas del op. V de Corelli, que posiblemente hayan sido parte del repertorio habitual del magnífico Antoine Forqueray, excelso violista y uno de los más grandes defensores del estilo italiano en Francia.

La “declamación” propuesta por Marin Marais y el estilo “cantabile” de Arcangelo Corelli, estarán presentes en nuestro programa como homenaje a estos dos grandes compositores y eximios instrumentistas.