EVENT NAME

Barocca

DESCRIPTION

ALL-FEMALE PERFORMANCE OF BAROCCA AT NATIONAL CENTRE FOR EARLY MUSIC For immediate release – 28 February, 2010 Press contact: Suzanne Fatta, 01904 870 454

YORK – Barocca, an innovative all-female production combining Baroque music, light staging, period continuo and a stunning multimedia dramatic presentation, will be performed at 7.30 pm at the National Centre for Early Music in York on 19 Friday March, 2010. Tickets can be purchased from the NCEM box office, and on the door, and are £13 adult, £10 concessions, £5 student.

The performance features Giovan Battista Pergolesi's sacred choral masterpiece 'Stabat Mater,' Antonio Vivaldi's cantata 'Nulla in mundo, pax sincera,' and Claudio Monteverdi's semi-opera 'Il Combattimento di Tancredi & Clorinda,' and will be performed by a University of York-based cast of women from the UK, America, Canada, Greece, Italy, and Hong Kong. The orchestra will feature Baroque strings, harpsichord and lute.

The three well known musical pieces are bracketed by dramatic monologues, read by Time (played by Ehren Mierau, the one male role in the stage performance); these speeches were composed for this production. And during the singing, a multimedia video presentation will be playing in the background, with images from art history. The whole project aims to explore the humanity, passion, sadness, fidelity, love, war, and joy of the human condition, through the visual stimulation of dramaturgy. Thus, Barocca is a single artistic statement with a dramatic arc through all the works.

This production is the brainchild of writer, director and multimedia artist Gianmaria Romagnoli, who has studied architecture, percussion, piano, scenography, sculpture and dramatic arts. At this time he has residences as Director with opera companies in New Orleans, Japan and Rome. He has produced Barocca before in Italy to great acclaim but is now bringing the production north for the UK premiere, because of the incredible artistic and musical heritage of York. One review of the Italian premiere said, “Romagnoli decided to reinvent the Stabat Mater by assigning theatrical roles to the two soloists, using stunning costumes inspired by the Neapolitan Baroque and projecting images of Christ's Passion from Italian works of art. They all melded perfectly into a monumental marvel of emotion.”

Producer Suzanne Fatta said, “I met Mr. Romagnoli through our professional MySpace pages over a year ago, and we’ve been looking for ways to work together ever since. He suggested this production to me, and when he found out I was a Baritone who sings with other female tenors and basses in Vivaldi’s Women, a famous choir based in Oxford, he had the idea to make this an all-female production. I was able to hand pick some of the best singers in York for this production, which celebrates both the sacred and secular, but all equally passionate, music of the Italian Baroque.”

Gianmaria says about this production, “Barocca feels the urge to express a new theatre, to represent works intended for the paper and those which are fighting against limited popularity. It casts a new light on dusty works, creating a dramaturgic sequence parallel to the songs, involve the audience in an experience of total perception where all the applied arts accompany the notes without solution of continuity. The Divine Wrath, Joy, Love, Nature and Christ’s tears at Clorinda’s death are the keys to the show…”

Soloists include Morena Aulicino, Eleanor Rose Midgley, Marina Theodoropolou, Suzanne Fatta (tenor), Chloë Clifford-Frith (baritone), and Wai-Yin Li. Other involved in the production are Enrico Bertelli, Edd Caine, Bianca Brajuha, Nicholas Chen, Sally Desmond, Sam Stadlen, Vanessa McWilliam, Niki Andronikou, Andrew Passmore, Rosie Carlton-Willis, Caroline Challis, Lisa Coates, Laura Kishimoto, Bella von Holstein, and Visual Artist Simone Amicucci.

Audiences who love opera, Baroque art, Italian music, video presentations, and dramatic productions like I Fagliolini’s 'The Full Monteverdi' will not want to miss this performance! For further information, please contact Suzanne Fatta at 01904 870 454, and see these websites: www.suzannefatta.com/barocca.php www.ncem.co.uk/ The National Centre for Early Music Box Office 01904 658338

DATES & TIMES

19 Mar 2010 19:30 - 21:30 ,

19 Mar 2010 00:00

ADDRESS & LOCATIONS

National Centre for Early Music
St. Margaret's Church
off Walmgate
York
North Yorkshire
YO1 9TL

CONTACT INFORMATION

Info line: 01904 870 454
Web site: web link
Email: suzanne.fatta@gmail.com

PRICES & ADMISSION

FACILITIES