Friday, September 22
Cathedral, 8.00 p.m.
Festive opening
La Cetra Barockorchester
Choir of Croatian Radiotelevision
Carlos Mena, countertenor
Jone Martinez, soprano
Andrea Marcon, conductor and artistic leadership
Amando Ivančić
Symphony for string orchestra in G major no.9
Allegro
Andante
Allegro
Antonio Vivaldi
Nisi Dominus, RV 608
Nisi Dominus
Vanum est vobis ante lucem surgere
Surgitis sederitis postquam
Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum
Sicut sagittae in manu potentis
Beatus vir qui implevit
Gloria Patri und Filio
Sicut erat in principio
Amen
Antonio Vivaldi
Gloria RV 589
Gloria in excelsis Deo
Et in terra pax
Laudamus te (sopranos I & II)
Gratias agimus tibi (chorus)
Propter magnam gloria (chorus)
Domine Deus (soprano)
Domine, Fili unigenite (chorus)
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei (alto, chorus)
Qui tollis peccata mundi (chorus)
Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris (mezzo soprano)
Quoniam tu solus sanctus (chorus)
Cum Sancto Spiritu (chorus)
After studying at the Conservatorio Superior de Música Jesús Gurida in Vitoria-Gasteiz, countertenor Carlos Mena (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1971) continued his studies at the Schola Cantorum in Basel under the guidance of Richard Levitt and René Jacobs, focusing especially on medieval repertoire under Dominique Vellard and opera with Nicolau de Figueiredo. His repertoire is wide-ranging, spanning from medieval music through the Baroque era to the early 19th century and contemporary music, with an emphasis on opera. As a soloist, he intensively performs concerts in prominent halls and festivals from Vienna, Amsterdam and London to New York, Buenos Aires, Tokyo and Sydney conducted by esteemed conductors such as Michel Corboz, Paul Goodwin, Mark Minkowsky, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Ottavio Dantone, Juanjo Mena, Gustav Leonhardt, Christoph Coin and Andrea Marcon. His artistic activity has been documented on more than 50 CD’s, many of which have won awards. He is also widely active as an educator. Since 1998, he has taught at the Academia de Música Antigua at the University of Salamanca. In 2018, he joined the faculty at Musikex, the Extremadura School of Music (Cáceres), and he is also a member of the Schola Cantorum Baseliensis. He has served as a visiting professor at the Teatro Real de Madrid, the University of Alfonso X in Madrid, the University of Alcalá de Henaries, academies in Cursos Manuel de Falla, Gran Canaria, Copenhagen and beyond. He also performs as a conductor, leading orchestras such as the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, the Galician Symphony Orchestra, the Navarre Symphony Orchestra, the City Orchestra of Granada and others.
Jone Martínez (Sopela, 1990), began her singing studies with Olatz Saitua at the Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga Conservatory in Bilbao. She continued and completed her studies at Musikene – Conservatorio Superior de Música in San Sebastián, under the guidance of Maita Arruabarrena (vocal technique) and Maciej Pikulski (interpretation and repertoire). Then she trained, particulary in early music, with Carlos Mena. She also completed her music pedagogy at the Conservatory in San Sebastián. Her repertoire focuses on music of the Baroque and Classic period. As a soloist, she performs at numerous festivals and prestigious venues in Spain and Europe, collaborating with renowned orchestras such as La Cetra Barockorchester, Orquesta de Córdoba, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla under the buton of respected conductors like Andrea Marcon, Carlos Mena, Enrico Onofri, Pablo González, Guillermo García Calvo, Alfredo Bernardini, and others.
Conductor, organist, and harpsichordist Andrea Marcon (Treviso, 1963) is one of the most esteemed musicians in early music. He studied organ and harpsichord with Jean-Claude Zehnder and conducting with Hans Martin Linde at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. In 1997, he founded the Venice Baroque Orchestra, one of the finest baroque ensembles today. Since 2009, he has been artistic director of the La Cetra Barockorchester & Vokalensemble Basel. His dedication to the rediscovery of Baroque opera led to the first modern-day stagings of Francesco Cavalli’s L’Orione (1998), Handel’s Siroe, re di Persia (2000), Cimarosa’s L’Olimpiade (2001) and Galuppi’s L’Olimpiade (2006). Internationally recognized as a leading interpreter of music of the baroque, classic and early romantic periods, he has conducted numerous acclaimed ensembles, among them Berlin Philharmonic, BR, WDR, HR, NDR and RSB radio orchestras, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Danish National Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Luzern Sinfonie Orchester, Bamberger Symphoniker, Camerata Salzburg and Mahler Chamber Orchestra. He is also a regular guest conductor at the Frankfurt Opera and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. He has performed at numerous prestigious concert halls around the world. He recorded more than 70 CDs as an organist, harpsichordist and conductor. He has been awarded the Deutsche Schallplatten Kritik prize four times for his organ and harpsichord recordings. His recordings as a conductor have also been honored with numerous awards, including the Diapason D’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, the Vivaldi Award of the Cini Foundation, Germany’s ECHO Klassik Award, the Edison Prize, the International Classical Music Award and two Grammy nominations. Andrea Marcon is also professor of harpsichord, organ and interpretation at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
La Cetra Barockorchester Basel was founded in 1999 on the initiative of Dr. Peter Reidemeister, the former director of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. The name La Cetra – zither is borrowed from the title of Antonio Vivaldi’s op. 9 set of violin concertos. It stands for the core repertoire of the orchestra, the Italian instrumental music of the 18th century. In 2009, when Andrea Marcon, to whom the ensemble owes its dynamic development, was appointed as the conductor of La Cetra, its repertoire began to expand from the early Baroque to the 19th century. In addition to concert operas, works of Italian Renaissance and Baroque music and the rediscovery of unknown masterpieces, La Cetra and its associated vocal ensemble perform major works for choir and orchestra from the Renaissance to the Classical period. La Cetra is one of the leading baroque orchestras in the world. The ensemble is internationally present with performances in the most important concert halls such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie de Paris, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Konzerthaus Wien, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Theater an der Wien, Carnegie Hall New York as well as at the most renowned festivals such as Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, Festival de Granada, Festival Aix-en-Provence and many more. La Cetra also enjoys international success with acclaimed concerts with singers such as Maria Espada, Franco Fagioli, Ann Hallenberg, Roberta Invernizzi, Magdalena Kožená, Carlos Mena, and others. La Cetra is also active as an opera orchestra; with Theater Basel, La Cetra realises a baroque opera production every season. La Cetra has released numerous CDs with critically acclaimed recordings, most recently Traversée with Patricia Petibon and the three-CD recordings of Leclair’s violin concertos with Leila Schayegh, awarded the Diapason d’Or. In October 2022, Vespro di Natale with music by Monteverdi was released by Deutsche Grammophon and was enthusiastically received by the public and the press.
The Choir of Croatian Radio and Television was founded in 1941 for the needs of the then radio program. Acting first as a chamber ensemble, over time it grew into the first large professional choir in Croatia. From the very beginning, the HRT Choir, which has had that name since 1991, has performed both independently and with the HRT Symphony Orchestra. Performing a wide repertoire, from Renaissance to contemporary music, a cappella and with instrumental accompaniment, it shows exceptional versatility, which has allowed for the Choir to perform all over Europe and collaborate with many prominent conductors and composers. Among them is Igor Kuljerić, whose creativity and long-term leadership left a strong mark, and whose compositions are now a permanent part of the Choir’s repertoire. As chief conductors, the Choir was led by Slavko Zlatić, Sergije Rainis, Vladimir Kranjčević and Tonči Bilić, at whose instigation, in 1998, the independent subscription cycle Sfumato was launched, as part of which many compositions by Croatian authors and anthological choral works from the world heritage were presented for the first time. On the initiative of maestro Bilić, the HRT Choir was admitted in 2016 to the association of the most respected European chamber choirs, Tenso. His discography consists of acclaimed and award-winning releases; among the newer ones are the operas Love and Malice and Porin by Vatroslav Lisinski and Nikola Šubić Zrinjski by Ivan pl. Zajec. Since the 2017/2018 season, the chief conductor of the Choir is maestro Tomislav Fačini.