Midtown Concerts • Passiflora Harmonica
Spectacolo di Salterio
Marc Armitano Domingo ~ Baroque salterio
Dušan Balarin ~ Baroque guitar & theorbo
Lydia Becker ~ violin
Jimmy Drancsak ~ violin & viola
Nathan Francisco ~ cello
Spectacolo di Salterio explores the vast and varied repertoire of the salterio during its heyday. The salterio, a type of chromatic psaltery that can be played with little mallets or by plucking, became increasingly popular during the 18th century amongst high society and court musicians in Italy, Spain, and Latin America. Its repertoire, which is still being uncovered to this day, shows the many uses the instrument had. From solo unaccompanied music, sonatas with basso continuo, chamber music, obligato instrument in theatre and sacred spectacles, concerto soloist, and also as a basso continuo instrument, the salterio could really do it all. The program will feature a sampler of salterio repertoire — from the earliest surviving piece for salterio from Vivaldi’s Il Giustino to fandangos and other popular Spanish music from the 18th century to the first decades of the 19th century.
Passiflora Harmonica is an ensemble led by Marc Armitano Domingo on salterio and Dušan Balarin on theorbo and Baroque guitar featuring Jimmy Drancsak and Lydia Becker on violins and Nathan Francisco on cello. The ensemble presents dynamic programs of the music available to cosmopolitan musicians in the Spanish Empire during the 18th century, with solos for salterio and Baroque guitar, to larger scale pieces that showcase the lush ensemble sound of this particular instrumentation.
