Special Concert: 300th Anniversary Celebration of Arcangelo Corelli
Victoria Martino, magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, performs in La Jolla
Victoria Martino, Baroque violin
James Lent, Baroque continuo organ
300th Anniversary Celebration of Arcangelo Corelli
Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, La Jolla
Sunday, November 24, 7:30 p.m.
Join Victoria Martino and James Lent in celebrating the 300th anniversary of Corelli’s death with a spectacular concert, featuring the complete sonatas for violin and continuo by the great Italian Baroque composer and violinist, performed on period instruments (original 18th century Baroque violin and Baroque continuo pipe organ).
Arcangelo Corelli's legendary skill as a virtuoso performer, extensive concert tours, and impact as a great pedagogue firmly established the violin as a solo instrument. His reputation as a violinist was as great in the Baroque period as that of his compatriot, Niccolo Paganini, in the 19th century. History has distinguished Corelli with such titles as the "Founder of Modern Violin Technique" and the "World's First Great Violinist."
Corelli was the most popular instrumental composer of his time, and his music was performed and honored throughout Europe. He exerted an inestimable influence, not only on his contemporaries, but also on succeeding generations. His violin compositions served as the forerunners of the modern sonata, and were exemplary for Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel. Divided equally between the sacred ("da chiesa") and secular ("da camera") forms, the set of twelve solo violin sonatas, Opus 5, culminates in the famous "La Folia" variations, one of the most renowned musical compositions of all time.
Victoria Martino and her longtime musical partner, James Lent, have become internationally known for their monographic anniversary performances (“marathons”) of the complete works for violin by many composers, including Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Ives, Hindemith, and Lutoslawski. This performance of the complete violin sonatas by Corelli, marking the 300th anniversary of the composer's death, is the newest addition to the list.
Ticket information:
Athenaeum Music and Arts Library
Tel. (858)454-5872
http://www.ljathenaeum.org/specialconcerts.html
Artist Biography:
A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University and the University of California, Victoria Martino studied Baroque violin and early music performance practice with Robert Koff in Boston (Brandeis University, Harvard University). She has been performing internationally as a Baroque soloist and chamber musician with early music ensembles since 1989.
Ms. Martino has collaborated and played recitals with many notable figures in the early music world, including Eduard Melkus, Huguette Dreyfus, Paul Badura Skoda, David Bellugi, and Robert Barto. For over a decade, she toured internationally with her own ensemble, the Albertina Soloists, giving concerts throughout Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan. Her extensive early music orchestral experience includes: associate concertmaster of Capella Academica Wien for nearly ten years, and principal second violin of the Wiesbaden Bach Orchestra, the Carmel Bach Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra (now
Musica Angelica).
In addition to performing the standard solo repertoire for Baroque violin, including the complete works of Bach, Handel, and Corelli, Ms. Martino has re-discovered many unpublished compositions from the 16th,17th, and 18th centuries. She is passionately committed to the revival of works that have never been heard by modern audiences; whenever possible, she performs all early music from the autograph manuscript, in order to be completely faithful to the composer's intentions. She plays an original (unmodified) Baroque violin by Michael Andreas Bartl (Vienna, 1760), accompanied by her custom-built Taylor and Boody Baroque continuo organ.
James Lent has been collaborating with Victoria Martino since 2005 in recitals throughout the United States. A resident of Los Angeles, Lent holds a doctorate of musical arts (DMA) in keyboard performance from Yale University.