Winter chamber music. Dolcissimi sospiri. DUO POETICO

Gunta Smirnova (soprano)

Rafael Ter-Sahakjan (baroque violin)

Lorenzo Abate (theorbo) 

Programme: H. Purcell, M. P. de Montéclair, H. I. Biber,  A. Grandi, G. Bononcini, C. Monteverdi,  G. F. Händel, A. Vivaldi

Gunta Smirnova is known as an outstanding interpreter of Baroque music, collaborating with such masters of early music as René Jacobs, Andrea Marcon and Ton Koppmann. Gunta Smirnova graduated from the Academy of Early Music in Basel, and has also honed her vocal skills at the Zurich University of the Arts. She has appeared at the Opertheater Zurich and Basel, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Cologne Philharmonic, the Bremen Music Festival, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona and is a regular guest at Leipzig's Thomas Church.

Rafael Ter-Sahakjan is a versatile musician who studied violin at the Music Academies of Lausanne and Lucerne in Switzerland. He has performed at music festivals in Switzerland, Italy and Germany and has given several masterclasses. He regularly performs with various Swiss orchestras and chamber music ensembles and has given many premieres of new works.
The duo of Gunta Smirnova and Rafael Ter-Sahakian will be joined on this programme by Lorenzo Abate, one of the most sought-after Italian theorists of the new generation, who has worked with such early music specialists as Andrea Marcon, Gabriel Garrido, Morris Steger, the ensembles Voces Suaves, La Chimera, and the orchestras La Cetra, AKAMUS and the Venice Baroque Orchestra.

In the concert "Dolcissimi sospiri" or "Gentle Sighs", the story of a loving soul will take the audience through the language of sound art from different styles and countries, showing the French, English and Italian Baroque, where sacred and secular music collide. The programme will be permeated by moving lamentations, wistful dissonances and triumphant coloratura strings.