MAGDALENA KOŽENÁ / AZUL LIMA
The discovery concert of the 2027 edition. Resolutely off the beaten track, this programme will captivate every admirer of Magdalena Kožená (and there are many!) as well as every explorer of the repertoire with superb pieces ranging from the early Italian Baroque to the music of today.
Programme
HENRY PURCELL (1659-1695)
“Music for a while”
“Sweeter than roses”
JOHN DOWLAND (1563-1626)
“In darkness let me dwell”
AZUL LIMA (1995-)
Improvisation
TARQUINIO MERULA (1595-1665)
“Canzonetta spirituale sopra alla nanna”
GIOVANNI GIROLAMO KAPSBERGER (1580-1651)
Kapsberger for theorbo
BRETT DEAN (1961-)
Gertrude Fragments
– Cast thy knighted colour off
– Wring from him the cause
– My too much changed son
– How is’t with you?
– If words be made of breath
HENRY PURCELL (1659-1695)
Dido and Aeneas – Aria of Dido: “When I am laid in earth”
Interval
BARBARA STROZZI (1619-1677)
“Lagrime mie”
GIOVANNI GIROLAMO KAPSBERGER (1580-1651)
Toccata arpeggiata for theorbo
GIULIO CACCINI (1551-1618)
“Odi, Euterpe”
ANTONIO CESTI (1623-1669)
“Disserratevi, abissi”
AZUL LIMA (1995-)
Improvisation – Passacaglia
LUCIANO BERIO (1925-2003)
Sequenza III for female voice
TARQUINIO MERULA (1595-1665)
“Quando io volsi l’altra sera”
Martha Argerich and Magdalena Kožená Schumann: Dichterliebe Op. 48: No.1, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai
Find out more
Mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená is a fascinating personality. Whether in the torn heroines of Haendel’s operas or in contemporary premieres, the Czech singer combines a flamboyant gift for declamation with a sovereign mastery of nuance. Alongside the Argentinian guitarist and theorbist Azul Lima, Kožená transforms the melancholy of Dowland’s laments into miniature operatic scenes. Her art of recitar cantando brilliantly embodies every affect suggested by the words, such as Dido’s heart-rending sense of abandonment in the final aria of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. By performing the rare music of Giulio Caccini and Tarquinio Merula, the mezzo also reconnects with all the purity of the birth of opera. As visionary as ever, her concert combines these seventeenth-century jewels with treasures of today: the Gertrude Fragments by the Australian Brett Dean and Luciano Berio’s legendary Sequenza III which reveals every facet of the voice.
