Baroque Editions
ITALIAN OPERA & ORATORIO 1700 - 1750
Over the past few years I have been devoting considerable time and energy to recovering and researching Baroque opera manuscripts and then developing performing editions of these forgotten works for modern musicians. With a particular interest in Italian opera and oratorio from the first half of the 18th Century I've been most focused on the following composers:Antonio Caldara, Giovanni Maria Ruggieri, Johann Adolf Hasse
George Fredrich Handel, Leonardo Vinci, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Gregor Joseph Werner, Giuseppe Maria Orlandini
Of course, this list is not exhaustive and I'm always excited about some great new finds in archives and libraries across Europe!
PROJECT: Oratorio Di Santo Stefano Primo Re Dell Ungheria
- An unexpected find in a new city -I came to Budapest in the autumn of 2008 as a Fulbright Scholar to study and sing Hungarian folk music and to explore the influences this music had on modern Hungarian classical composers like Ligeti and Bartók. (The Fulbright is a year-long grant sponsored by the United States Government.)
I worked with Eva Marton at the Liszt Ferenc Academy, and throughout that year I fell in love with the music and the culture of Hungary. In addition to my folk music research in Budapest libraies, I had also started looking for interesting long-forgotten pieces that are currently in libraries that might be worth performing. I want to bring these pieces out from dusty shelves and printed pages to present modern-day performances that people can hear, feel, and appreciate. Naturally, Hungary was on my mind so I began to look for pieces of Baroque music that were historically tied to Hungary. I eventually found a piece that really got me excited: composer Antonio Caldara’s oratorio Santo Stefano (Szent István) written in 1713 while he was living in Vienna. I ordered the microfilm from a library in Muenster, Germany and anxiously waited for it to arrive so I could take a closer look.
At the same time I was working with Nemeth Pál singing in a Vivaldi opera with the Budapest Kamaraopera. I asked Pál if he had much experience reviving these types of pieces, as I had found an oratorio by Caldara that interested me. By great coincidence, he had also just come across Santo Stefano and was about to order the microfilm! We took this as sign that the piece was meant to be revived and performed. With Pál's ensemble, Savaria Baroque, we recorded the piece in January of 2011; I sang the role of Szent István (Stefano). The CD was released in April from Hungaroton Classics and I was so pleased to be a part of this project. I feel that singing in this piece was one humble gift I could offer to a country that has given me so much over the last few years!
