Fernando Carcupino

French composer Charles Dieupart spent most of his active life in London, where he became famous as the founder of the Opera Season of the Queen Theatre of Haymarket. He was much sought after as a harpsichord teacher, and no wonder his most famous work was the “Six Suittes de Clavessin” (original spelling), a highly original work which formed the bridge between the flourishing French style and the contrapuntal German style of keyboard writing. Also the great Johann Sebastian Bach was influenced by this work, as traces can be found in his English Suites As a PhD in Historical Musicology Portuguese harpsichordist Fernando Jaloto did extensive research into Dieupart’s work, and the performance practice of its time.

Christoph Graupner was born Kirchberg, Saxony. Due to an unfortunate combination of circumstances his work has fallen into almost total oblivion, yet he was one of the most important composers of his time. He spent nearly 50 years of his life at the Court of Darmstadt, as Hoffkapellmeister. Among his friends and admirers were the composers Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Mattheson, and Johann Friedrich Fasch, who was also his pupil. Thanks to his studies in Leipzig, from childhood on Graupner was in contact with musical contemporaries, including Johann Schelle and Johann Kuhnau, predecessors of Johann Sebastian Bach at the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas church).