Corelli Consort

Baroque ensemble Corelli Consort (artistic director Mail Sildos) is one of the few collectives in Estonia that uses original historical instruments that date back to the 17th-18th century – baroque violins, traverse flute, baroque cello, viola da gamba, harpsichord, baroque bassoon, archiliuto etc. Ensemble has been active from 1992, its first concert took place in the Church of Holy Ghost in Tallinn. CC joins together Estonian professional musicians who have deeper interest in life philosophy and performing traditions of the Baroque era. On account of this, ensemble is looking for venues that could magnify the message of the authentically played music – manors, castles, nobility palaces, churches – valuing, introducing and vitalizing Estonian architectural memorials through the music.

Due to the name of the ensemble (after an Italian composer Archangelo Corelli) and Estonian longlasting historical connections with Germany, the repertoire includes mainly the works of Italian and German baroque masters – Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel, Georg Philipp Telemann, etc, but also Baltic-German and Russian composers of the era (Johann Valentin Meder, Johann Fischer, Dmitri Bortnyansky etc). Special attention is given to Corelli and his sonatas. The concert programmes are a combination of works by Corelli and solo cantatas, arias, sonatas, trio-sonatas and concerti grossi for various voices and instruments by other composers of the Baroque period. Primary importance on the selection of music is its spiritual message, CC is often the first performer of forgotten works of Baroque era.

CC’s musicians have dealt years with interpretation problems of early music and attended many master courses on this matter in different countries. They all are constantly involved in the work of collectives of this field: Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, Corelli Baroque Orchestra, Capita Selecta Amsterdam, Estonian-Finnish and Helsinki Baroque Orchestras, Opus X Helsinki etc. The number of musicians in CC fluctuates between 2 to 6, or sometimes more, depending on the programmes. Ensemble cooperates with most of the best Estonian interpreters of Baroque music, as well as many recognized musicians abroad (Sweden, Finland, Latvia, The Netherlands a.o.).

The concert series Estonian Manors, Music of the Knighthood, Beauty of History, Musical Salon in Toompea, Romantic Manors, introduce Estonian marvellous pearls of arhitecture and history together with baroque music have been warmly received by the audience. One of the main goals of these concert series is to create historical atmosphere in historical houses by the means of music.

CC has found a specific place in Estonian musical scene. Ensemble represents a typical style of Baroque music that can be compared with restoring the old paintings to their original glory. Often art historian Jüri Kuuskemaa participates in the concerts, enlightening Estonian history, peculiarity of buildings’s architecture and destinies of old families. Ensembel has released 2 CDs: „Beauty of History – Corelli Consort & Soloists” (Corelli Music, 2005) and “Christmas in ancient Tallinn” (Corelli Music, 2007). Since 2004, CC’s concerts are organised by agency Corelli Music.

See also the homepage of the ensemble.

© EMIC 2008

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