Video streamed event and on demand: Dawn in Vienna

Since its formation in 2015, Orpheus Baroque Stockholm has grown into an important part of the capital city’s music offering, serving as a meeting place for philharmonic musicians and some of Sweden’s foremost freelance Baroque musicians.

The critically acclaimed ensemble collaborates with guest conductors such as Alfredo Bernardini, Dan Laurin, Peter Spissky, Luca Guglielmi, Göran Karlsson and Mariangiola Martello, and soloists such as Anders J. Dahlin and Kristina Hammarström. The artistic directors are the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s solo cellist Johannes Rostamo, and concertmaster and Baroque violinist Elin Gabrielsson.

Not much is known about the life and work of Maria Margherita Grimani, except for one thing, which is known without hesitation: she was the first female composer to have an opera performed at the Royal Opera in Vienna. She also composed other music for voice, including two oratorios. As we will hear at this concert, her music is filled with powerful emotion.

Much more is known about Johann Joseph Fux, Austria’s most prominent Baroque composer. He travelled frequently to Italy and Venice, where music made a powerful impression on him. One of the best known composers from Venice is Vivaldi, who was also active at the time. Another Venetian-born composer was Antonio Caldara, who travelled in the other direction instead: to Vienna, where he was court conductor from 1716, which coincides with the period during which Maria Margherita Grimani was active in the Viennese court. These musical lives cross paths at this concert.

Here, Orpheus Baroque will be led by Mariangiola Martello, who is originally from Turin, where she studied piano, organ and harpsichord. She developed an interest in Baroque music and classical repertoires early, and in opera chamber music in particular. She is an in-demand Baroque music coach at many European opera houses: Oslo, the Hamburg State Opera, Drottningholm Theatre, Teatro Regio in Turin and the Cologne Opera, where she performs both as a soloist and as a continuo player.

We also hear the Swedish mezzo soprano Annanstina Malm. She has an intense international career and a large repertoire consisting of both older and new music.