September Baroque Music Returns

HAVANA TIMES, Sept. 4 – The seventh edition of Septiembre Barroco (September Baroque), an annual event devoted to offering concerts of Baroque music gets underway on Friday evening.  The setting will continue to be at the historic San Francisco de Paula Church.  The schedule of concerts follows:

– Friday, September 4, 7:00 p.m. – The season’s inaugural will be led by the Ars Longa Early Music Group), directed by maestro Teresa Paz, which will interpret selections of oratory arias of “The Messiah,” by George Friedrich Handel. The pieces, written for organ, will be performed by Moses Santiesteban.

Saturday, September 5, 7:00 p.m. – The Instrumental Ensemble, formed by young musicians from the Superior Institute of Art, the National Symphonic Orchestra and the Guillermo Tomás Music Conservatory, will offer a repertoire of works by Girolamo Frescobaldi, Antonio Vivaldi, George Friedrich Handel and Georg Philip Telemann.

Friday, September 11, 7:00 p.m. – The Ventus Havana quintet, directed by Alina Blanco, will present a Baroque Suite by several composers and the Danzas Antiguas (Early Dances) of the 17th century, by Ferenc Farkas, among other works.

Saturday, September 12, 7:00 p.m. – The early music group Exulten, from the Cuban city of Bayamo, will be presented for the first time in Havana performing compositions of Spanish concert music by Francisco Valls and Bartolomé de Selma, and others.

Friday, September 18, 7:00 p.m. – The Harold Gramatges String Orchestra, directed by Noila Ortega, will perform a repertoire by Johann Sebastian Bach and Tommaso Albinoni, as well as works by other composers.

Saturday, September 19, 7:00 p.m. – The Early Harmonic Ballad Music Group, directed by Natasha Prado, will interpret works by George Friedrich Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann, among other composers. This concert will also serve to premiere a Cuban-made chalumeau (the direct predecessor of the modern clarinet).

Friday, September 25, 7:00 p.m. – The flautist group Sonus Ensemble, directed by Axel Rodríguez, will offer a program by J. B. Boismortier, J. F. Fasch, W. Friedman and Bach, and J.J.Quantz.

Friday, October 2, 7:00 p.m. – The Ars Nova Early Music Group), directed by Raúl Zaballa, will be head up the season’s closing.