The Alessandro Stradella Baroque Festival is set to resonate once again in the most picturesque locations of Tuscia. A month-long celebration of music, art, and culture will run from August 30th to September 28th, weaving a refined dialogue between music and the timeless beauty of Lazio’s historic churches, palaces, and villages. The festival honors the legacy of Alessandro Stradella—a fascinating and innovative figure in 17th-century Italian music—through concerts, original productions, and internationally renowned guests.
The festival opens with the concert “An Angel from Paradise – The Orrigoni Songbook,” a program of Stradella’s masterworks composed for the castrato soprano Marc’Antonio Orrigoni, the ‘first soprano’ and star of Stradella’s final operas during the 1679 Carnival season at Genoa’s Falcone Theatre. The performance will be delivered by the Ensemble Mare Nostrum under the direction of Maestro Andrea De Carlo, recognized as the leading international specialist in Stradella’s work.
Between August 31st and the following two weekends in September, concerts by major international artists will explore the dialogue between the ancient and the contemporary. The lineup includes “Orient/Occident” with cellist Michele Marco Rossi (August 31st); “Wonder and Unease” with the ensemble Dramatodia directed by Alberto Allegrezza (September 6th); “Latin Baroque Fiesta!”, a surprising program of Latin American baroque music with the Swedish ensemble Villancico directed by Peter Pontvick (September 7th); “Tarantulas, Antidotes, and Follies,” music for the tarantella-possessed from Spain, Puglia, the ancient Terra d’Otranto, and France, performed by Ensemble Terra D’Otranto (September 13th); and “At the House of Monsignor Kaunitz” featuring the harpsichord of Luca Guglielmi with works by Handel, Scarlatti, and Pasquini (September 14th). The Stradella Y-Project will also present “Massenzio 2035” (September 12th-14th).
The final two weekends will offer a modern reinterpretation of Bach’s music, featuring Daniele Roccato’s recital “Double Bach #3” (September 20th) in dialogue with the medieval sounds of the “Chrysalis” concert with Peppe Frana and Federica Bianchi (September 21st). The baroque “Sweet Negligence” of flutist Dan Laurin and harpsichordist Anna Paradiso Laurin will follow (September 27th), leading to the closing concert with the evocative “Madrigals in the Mirror 2025” by the ensemble Cremona Antiqua under the direction of Antonio Greco (September 28th).
Supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Lazio Region, the City and Province of Viterbo, and the Carivit Foundation, the Alessandro Stradella Baroque Festival enables the treasures of the Tuscia region and the medieval city of Viterbo to host an annual rediscovery of Renaissance and baroque music by its great composers. This includes Stradella, who spent his childhood and adolescence in Nepi, as well as Domenico Massenzio, Tullio Cima from Ronciglione, and Domenico and Virgilio Mazzocchi from Civita Castellana.
The festival is a partner with Rai Radio Classica, a channel entirely dedicated to classical music with programming spanning from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Recordings from the festival will be featured on the “Dal Vivo” program, airing Saturdays at 5:30 PM.
All rights reserved © Copyright ANSA