During this Thursday’s concert, conducted by Jean-Christophe Dijoux, harpsichordist and director, scenes from three French films will be screened.
The Auditorio de Tenerife offers this Thursday, 10 April, at 7.30 p.m. the concert Barroco de Cine in the Chamber Hall. This concert by the Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife will feature a programme of works by French composers Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marin Marais, Louis Marchand, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jacques Cordier, and Jean de Sainte-Colombe. The performance will be complemented by screenings of scenes from three European-produced films: Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World, 1991), Le roi danse (The King is Dancing, 2000) and Vatel (2001).
In the early 18th century, French musical taste separated from the prevailing trend of ‘Italianisation’ in Europe, which gave rise to fascinating differences in French music that remain alive today. Evidence of this is the popularity of programmes of the French Baroque repertoire in the current revival of early music. Cinema played a significant role in reinforcing the image of France during the Baroque era.
The artistic director of Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife, Conrado Álvarez, highlights that the rich ornamentation of the French style and the combination of timbres give rise to distinctive textures, for example, ‘the blending of the viola da gamba with other bowed instruments and recorders with oboes are examples of this. As a result of the sophistication deriving from contrasts-melancholy and euphoria, darkness and light, homophony and counterpoint, etc.-, cadence-laden melodies, rhythms, dances and contradances are moulded to the tastes of the opulent court or the everyday simplicities of France in 17th-century Baroque’.
Although this is not the first such programme presented by the Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife, this Thursday’s concert has much to do with cinema, or ‘de cine, that Spanish expression that we use to describe something so perfect it seems to exist in a film, separating it from reality’. The selected compositions, which will accompany a selection of images, are much more than a soundtrack, a common musical thread or a pretext. For Álvarez, ‘they are the cultural result of a society that created its style, which we acknowledge today with this programme and may be better understood through the French films Tous les matins du monde, Le Roi Danse and Vatel’.
The Orquesta Barroca de Tenerife takes another step forward in its efforts to regularly schedule historically informed performances in the Canary Islands with the engagement of talented young musicians. Despite their youth, these musicians have attained a remarkable maturity level through their early Spanish music performance. The increased presence and improved quality of regional musicians using period instruments and styles are the main factors driving the growing popularity of 17th- and 18th-century repertoires in the Canary Islands. These concerts establish international references within the music scene and attract the attention of numerous professionals and music lovers worldwide.
The orchestra will be led by Jean-Christophe Dijoux, harpsichordist and conductor (First Prize at the 2014 International Bach Harpsichord Competition), and the violinist Lorena Padrón as concertmaster. The ensemble is completed by the violinists Sergio Suárez, Laura Díaz, Raquel Sobrino, Juan Manuel Díaz and Giovanni Déniz, the baroque violas Iván Sáez and Melchor García, Alejandro Marías on bass viola da gamba, Diego Pérez on Baroque cello, Tomás López on violone, and Carlos Oramas playing theorbo and Baroque guitar, the flutes of Moisés Maroto and Fran Padrón. The oboes of Pepa Megina and Miriam Jorge, Julián Rincon’s bassoon, and Paula Pinero’s percussion complete the ensemble.
The Orquesta Barroca has become the top-ranked Canarian orchestra for the past seven years. It uses period instruments and offers historically informed performances of Baroque repertoires, thanks to the parity of its members. The orchestra’s diverse selection of programs appeals to all audiences, encouraging attendance at their performances. Additionally, they promote modern musicological contextualization, stimulating interest in scheduling concerts across the archipelago. These initiatives are made possible through the support of regional authorities through the Government of the Canary Islands and the local authorities through the Tenerife Island Council, the Music Festival of the Canary Islands tours, and the scheduled performances of the Auditorio de Tenerife.
The tickets can be purchased at a single price of €15 and €5 for under 30s on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium’s box office, or by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Check the special discounts for students, unemployed people and large families.