The Musiques Anciennes festival showcases early Baroque music with La Chimera and soprano Jiayu Jin, exploring emotional depth through madrigals and arias.
Festival highlights early Baroque music
The thirteenth edition of the Musiques Anciennes festival takes place in Pic-Saint-Loup, Gorges de l'Hérault, and Pays de Montpellier, featuring the ensemble La Chimera. The festival explores early Italian Baroque music through performances in the region's heritage sites.Argentine lutenist leads opening concerts
Argentine lutenist Eduardo Egüez opens the festival with three intimate concerts, given a carte blanche to shape the program. The first concert introduces soprano Jiayu Jin, who performs alongside him.Baroque music emphasized emotional expression
Early 17th-century Italian Baroque music focused on using words to convey emotions, as composer Claudio Monteverdi believed music should serve the text. Italian composers used madrigals to express emotions through chromaticism and dissonance.La Chimera focuses on romantic turmoil
The ensemble La Chimera draws from this repertoire, emphasizing romantic turmoil. Jiayu Jin, a prize-winning soprano, collaborates with the group for the first time on a program titled Amor io canto.Jin's performance showcases vocal skill
Jin performs a madrigal by Benedetto Ferrari, demonstrating her vocal flexibility and expressiveness. In Domenico Mazzocchi's Perfido che chiamare, she conveys betrayal and pain with fervor.Program concludes with emotional cantata
The program ends with Barbara Strozzi's Ericlito amoroso, a miniature cantata expressing the lament of love through sobs and sighs, ending with an impressive low note. The instrumentalists, including Carlotta Pupulin-Egüez and Carolina Egüez, are also highlighted.Instrumentalists add depth to performances
Eduardo Egüez's diminutions on the Passamezzo theme offer a moment of relaxation. Carolina Egüez's virtuoso playing on the viola da gamba in Susanna passegiata is particularly notable.Concert closes with expressive encore
The concert concludes with an encore of Monteverdi's Quel sguardo sdegnosetto, where Jin delivers an expressive performance, showcasing her mastery of Baroque vocal techniques.
