Grand Tour de Noël 2023

Baroque Christmas in Europe

Works by Delalande, Corette, Muffat, Vivaldi, Purcell & Ragazzi
Ensemble Castor
Rodolfo Richter - Baroque violin & conductor
Le Grand Tour, the great journey, was a duty for a status-conscious young nobleman in the Baroque era. Such a journey took them to the important courts of Europe and served primarily to educate them, in particular to develop their good taste in the arts, including music. Imagine if such a nobleman had travelled to Paris, London, Venice and Naples around Christmas time: In the Parisian churches he would have heard Christmas melodies that everyone there knew, the so-called Noëls, in Venice he would have heard Christmassy, sweet concerti imitating the music of the shepherds, played by the orphan girls under the direction of Maestro Vivaldi in the famous Ospedale della Pietà, in London, a visit to the Royal Chapel would have been obligatory, because the music of Orpheus Britannicus Henry Purcell could be heard there, and in Naples he would have encountered music everywhere, perhaps the compositions of Signor Ragazzi in the Royal Chapel. The internationally successful Upper Austrian ensemble Castor invites you to this Christmas Grand Tour under the direction of the British-Brazilian baroque violinist Rodolfo Richter.

19:00 Pre-concert: Chamber Choir of the Innsbruck Music High School, conducted by Siegfried Portugaller