Saturday, September 27
Trakošćan Castle, Hall of Knights, 11:00 a.m.
Maya Amir, soprano
Iberian Ensemble
Alexandre Andrade, baroque flute
David Cruz, baroque cello
Ivan Oliveira, theorbo and baroque guitar
Amor Mediterráneo
Tarquinio Merula
Folle è ben che si crede
José Marín
No piense Menguilla ya
Anonymus
Vuestros ojos tienen d'Amor no sé qué
Juan Hildalgo
Con tanto respeto adoro
Sebastián Durón
Sosieguen descansen
Domenico Scarlatti
Sonata in E minor, K. 81
Benedetto Ferrari
Amanti, io vi so dire
Georg Friedrich Händel
Mi palpita il cor, HWV 132c
Cantata for alto, traverso and Basso continuo
Recitativo: Mi palpita il cor
Aria: Ho tanti affanni in petto
Recitativo: Clori, di te mi lagno
Aria: S’un dí m’adora la mia crudele
Carlos Seixas
Sonata no. 23 in D minor
Adagio
Jiga, Allegro
Minuet
Traditional Ladino
Avre tu puerta cerrada
Los guisados de la berenjena
Frederico de Brito, Ferrer Trindade
Canção do mar
Júlio de Sousa
Saudade Vai-Te Embora
Israeli mezzo-soprano Maya Amir specializes in historically informed performance of 17th- and 18th-century opera, with a strong interest in world music and original compositions in Hebrew. She has performed in productions across Europe and Israel, collaborating with ensembles such as Barrocade, La Phoenix, Kölner Akademie, Ensemble Piris Eliyahu, Avventura Barocca, Hortus Musikus, Czech Ensemble Baroque, among many others. She is a prizewinner of international competitions in Froville and New York, and participated in Joyce DiDonato’s masterclasses at Carnegie Hall. She was also a member of the renowned Académie Musicale Philippe Jaroussky in Paris. She studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Rosa Dominguez, at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig (HMT Leipzig) with Elvira Dreßen, and at Tel Aviv University with Efrat Ben-Nun. Her operatic roles include Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Aminta (L’Olimpiade), Piacere (Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno), Riccardo (Il Trionfo dell’Onore), and the title roles in Rodelinda and Alcina. She has appeared at prestigious venues such as the Bach Archive in Leipzig, Gare du Nord Basel, Arvo Pärt Centre, Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn, and La Seine Musicale, as well as at festivals including Festtage Alter Musik Basel, Abu Gosh Festival, Glasperlenspiel Festival, and the Varaždin Baroque Evenings. In 2022, she released her first live album, Night on the Waters, featuring Mediterranean compositions at the crossroads of classical, Spanish, and Arabic music. In 2024, she founded her own ensemble, Avventura Barocca, based in Basel.
Created in 2012 by Alexandre Andrade, the Iberian Ensemble project aims to unite musicological research with the performance of 18th-century Iberian instrumental music. In terms of musical education, the project also seeks to encourage contact and learning among young musicians within the realm of early music instruments. Starting with the traverso (baroque flute) and incorporating other instruments — baroque oboe, baroque bassoon, chalumeau, baroque violin — supported by harpsichord, baroque cello, viola da gamba, and baroque lute, Iberian Ensemble adopts various formations depending on the repertoire being performed. The stylistic richness of Iberian and Italian Baroque repertoires, and their historical connections with Brazil, interpreted through historically informed performance, present both inspiration and challenge for all members of the ensemble. Since its founding, Iberian Ensemble has worked continuously with local governments, associations, universities, music academies and conservatories, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions in Portugal, Spain, England, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, and Brazil.
Alexandre Andrade is a Portuguese flautist and pedagogue specializing in early music. He is a professor at ISEIT-Viseu, Instituto Piaget (Portugal), guest professor at the Federal University of Alagoas and the Federal University of Bahia (Brazil), and flute professor at the JOBRA Conservatory of Music (Portugal). He graduated in flute pedagogy from the University of Aveiro in the class of Pedro Couto Soares, completed a Master’s in Performance at the Waterford Institute of Technology (Ireland), and a Master’s in Early Music – Baroque Flute at ESMAE (Porto), in the class of Olavo Barros. He earned his PhD from the University of Aveiro with a dissertation titled The Presence of the Transverse Flute in Portugal from 1750 to 1850 – Repertoire and Performance. He has performed with baroque orchestras under the direction of Pedro Sousa e Silva, Ana Mafalda Castro, Benjamim Chénier, and Marco Ceccato. Andrade is the founder of the ensembles Ars Iberica, Iberian Ensemble, and Ventos do Atlântico, with which he performs and leads early music education projects throughout Europe and Brazil.
Ivan Oliveira is a Brazilian musician specializing in theorbo and baroque guitar. He studied in Tatuí (Brazil) and at ESMAE in Porto, where he is currently pursuing lute studies. He has performed with various ensembles and orchestras in Brazil and Portugal, including Orquestra Barroca do Brasil, Trupe Barroca, Barca Dell 700, and O Bando de Surunyo. He is an active member of the Encadeamentos Project and the Iberian Ensemble. He has studied with renowned teachers such as Daniel Morais, Dolores Costoyas, William Carter, Regina Albanez and Kajsa Dahlbäck, with a strong focus on basso continuo performance.
Portuguese cellist David Cruz graduated from the National Academy of Orchestra in Lisbon, where he studied with Paulo Gaio Lima. He continued his education in the United States at Indiana University under the guidance of Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and János Starker. From 2001 to 2003, he was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, performing under renowned conductors such as Colin Davis and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He also served as principal cellist of the Atlantic Coast Symphony Orchestra. Cruz earned his doctoral degree at Boston University, studying with Michael Reynolds and George Neikrug. Several composers have dedicated works to him, notably Passo Cruzado by Igor Iwanek and Circumloquios Enrevesados by Alejandro Castillo. During his doctoral studies, he developed a keen interest in early music, studying baroque cello with Sarah Freiberg and viola da gamba with Laura Jeppesen. He further refined his skills through masterclasses with Phoebe Carrai and Stanley Ritchie. As a baroque cellist and gambist, he performs both as a soloist and chamber musician, appearing with ensembles such as the Boston University Baroque Ensemble, Add Libitum, and in a duo with harpsichordist Frederik Jodry (Brown University). From 2013 to 2018, he was the artistic director of the Violoncelos de Sta. Cristina / Sta. Cristina International Cello Festival. He currently teaches at the University of Aveiro, the Jean Piaget Institute in Viseu, and the Catholic University of Portugal, and regularly gives concerts and masterclasses across Portugal, Spain, Brazil, and the United States.