The Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi hosts the presentation of the record Kapsberger, Secret Pages, for theorbo and sounds of Venice (2017-2018), which brings together two Venetian composers: Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger, one of the most original composers of the early baroque period and a well-known theorbo virtuoso, and Claudio Ambrosini, a former pensionnaire at Villa Medici in 1985 and winner of the Golden Lion of the Biennale Musica in 2007.
The CD alternates between old and new virtuosic pieces: ten pages to be rediscovered by Kapsberger – taken from various manuscripts – and ten new compositions by Ambrosini, which reveal unimagined possibilities for this fascinating instrument. A collection of baroque and contemporary pieces to create a sort of instrumental challenge across the centuries between two Venetian creators who share a passion for the theorbo.
The musical comparison ‘four centuries later’ is also enriched by an additional sound dimension: the contemporary landscape, life and problems of present-day Venice told through the real sounds of the city. Recorded at different times (including the terrible Acquagranda of 2019), they are intended to remind us that Venice is not just a “beautiful postcard”, nor does it only have a magnificent past history: despite all its problems, it is alive and continues to carry on the musical research begun in the Renaissance.
