Ensemble Floridante 10

“Musical Prayers”

Maria Valdmaa (soprano)
Anthony Marini (violin, lead)
Kaisa Kallinen (violin)
Terhi Lehtiniemi (viola)
Villu Vihermäe (viola da gamba)
Eero Palviainen (archiliuto)
Saale Fischer (organ, harpsichord)

Works by Schütz, Buxtehude, Vierdanck, Becker, Walther, Westhoff
Premiere of a commissioned piece by Märt-Matis Lill for viola da gamba and harpsichord (part of Floridante’s project “Estonian Miniatures”).

Finnish-Estonian musical relations in the field of historically informed performance practice go back decades. The Finnish-Estonian Baroque Orchestra, founded in 1989, has spawned a number of chamber music projects as well as many personal friendships. Today, both the Haapsalu Early Music Festival’s baroque orchestra and the Floridante ensemble regularly engage Finnish musicians, the opposite being already unimaginable. The joint concert of FiBO and Floridante is in some ways symbolic – both geographical and stylistic openness aim to describe the Haapsalu Early Music Festival’s ‘house band’ in its new decade.

In 2024, ensemble Floridante celebrates its 10th birthday. Having held several concerts in that regard throughout the last season, the ‘house band’ of the Haapsalu Early Music Festival now has invited their beloved soloist, soprano Maria Valdmaa, and dear friends from Finalnd to join this particular program. Instead of birthday-fireworks, the musicians will pay a musical tribute to those whose lives are affected by war today, featuring music written in Germany during the Thirty Years’ War and the following years.