Presented by MERITA

Join the Belinfante Quartet as they explore music of Venice through the ages. From Medieval music through early opera, to Vivaldi and on to more modern Gondolier songs. We culminate in Benjamin Britten’s ode to Venice and her magic in Britten’s Third String Quartet. Using the toll of the bells of the Santa Maria della Salute – seen across the water from our venue – heard only once a year to commemorate the passing of the plague, Britten’s last movement ‘La Serenissima’ combines musical motifs from his Opera Death in Venice with the magic of Venice as a place to bring about beauty through music. The quartet wish to leave with a question of how we can protect and cherish places we love in the midst of modern day climate change. – We leave with a message of hope, renewal and joy in the places we call home with a new commission by Rhiannon Randle ‘Baile’ (home). A woven folk fiddle dance in the musical idiom she calls ‘home’.

 

With thanks to the Vaughan Williams Foundation for their support in commissioning Rhiannon’s ‘Baile’.