Spero

The chamber cantata flourished in Italy as a counterpart to public opera and oratorio, cultivated by aristocratic patrons for their personal enjoyment. Perhaps because of its essentially private origins, this pervasive Baroque form remains relatively little known today. Between 2005 and 2009, Fabio Bonizzoni and his ensemble La Risonanza issued one of the most important CD series of the last decades. In seven volumes and featuring some of the brightest stars of the Baroque vocal galaxy – such as Roberta Invernizzi, Nuria Rial and Raffaela Milanesi –, Bonizzoni delivered milestone versions of all the chamber cantatas with instrumental accompaniment that George Frideric Handel composed during his stay in Italy (1706-1710).

The mythical life of Stradella, murdered on a Genoese piazza at the age of forty-two on the orders of a jealous rival in love, has inspired several novels and operas.

Composed during his Italian stay at the beginning of the 18th century, Handel’s cantatas, interpreted by the soprano Anna Kasyan, draw a nuanced picture of opera heroin’s heart. At this time, women were not often allowed to appear in front of an audience. However, the Italian prima donna Margherita Durastanti, one of the few professional female singers of the period, delighted listeners with her brilliant interpretations of Handel’s cantatas.

Originally from Ukraine/Poland and now based in London, Alina Bzhezhinska is an internationally renowned harpist. She has performed with leading classical and jazzmusicians such as Django Bates, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and the Glasgow String Quartet. Her duo, with award-winning jazz vocalist Niki King, supported GregoryPorter at the 2017 Edinburgh Jazz Festival.Alina's critically acclaimed Quartet led the 80th Birthday celebrations for Alice Coltrane around the UK in 2017.

At the outset of the eighteenth century, Naples had gained ground as one of the most important musical centers in Italy. In 1729 Charles de Brosses wrote with great admiration in his “Lettres familieres:” “Naples es la capital du monde musician.” (Naples is the capital of the musician world.) The Galant Style must be considered to be groundbreaking, and as preparatory for the Classical Style. For example, an unbroken teacher-student lineage can be documented which reaches from Gaetano Greco to Nicola Antonio Porpora, further to Joseph Haydn and then on to Ludwig van Beethoven and Carl Czerny. Robin Johannsen presents this release, which includes several world premiere recordings and focuses on Early music from Naples- that center of the musical world. Johannsen is one of the most sought-after singers in Early Music.