Six solos for violin without accompaniment – Les Idées Heureuses

Les Idées heureuses presents two works of capital importance – as characterized by Bach’s first biographer Forkel: Six solos for the violin (c. 1722) and Six solos for the cello (c. 1720).

These two major collections were composed while Bach was director of chamber music for Prince Anhalt-Coethen. Bach was particularly happy during this period of his life, and he wrote some of his greatest instrumental works during this time.

It is often forgotten that Bach received his early musical training from his father on stringed instruments. It was also as a violinist that he secured his first position in an orchestra in 1703. According to his son C.P.E.: “In his youth, and until a rather advanced age, he played the violin with purity and precision, and thus kept the orchestra in better order than he could have done from his harpsichord.”  And again: “He understood perfectly the possibilities of all stringed instruments. His works for violin and cello alone bear witness to this.”

Both collections will be presented in integral within two different concerts played on the same day. Six solos for cello will take place on April 25, 2021.

Artist
Laura Andriani, violin

Laura Andriani is one of the few active violinists to play with as much ease the repertoire from classic to contemporary eras – both solo and chamber music – as well as baroque repertoire – and in particular the music of JS Bach – with attention to historical performance practice, with appropriate instruments and bows.

At age 17, she graduated at the Conservatory of Music in Torino where she studied violin with Elena Guizzardi. She also studied with Franco Gulli, Adelina Oprean (and obtained the Soloist’s Diploma at the Musik-Akademie in Basel, Switzerland in 1996) and Salvatore Accardo at the Accademia Walter Stauffer in Cremona.

She studied chamber music in England (Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh and Royal Academy of Music in London), Austria (Musikhochschule Vienna) and Italy (Scuola di Musica di Fiesole) with members of the Amadeus Quartet, the Smetana Quartet and Quartetto Italiano. She has been interested in baroque repertoire since her childhood and she studied with Sigiswald Kuijken to work on the original technique chin-off.

Laura Andriani regularly performs as a baroque violinist; she is a Concertmistress of Les Idées Heureuses and participates in the concerts of Les Boréades and Arion. As a chamber musician, Laura Andriani has performed in Europe (Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Belgium, Holland, England and Czech Republic), America (Canada, United States, Mexico) and Asia (China, Korea, Vietnam). After performing as first violin of the Andriani Quartet, she became the first violin of the Alcan Quartet (now the Saguenay Quartet) and moved to Canada in 2003. The Alcan Quartet’s activities and discography (including works by Mendelssohn, Glenn Gould, MacMillan, and the complete Beethoven’s quartets) were highly successful in Canada and internationally.

Saturday October 3, 2020 at 2:30 pm
Program
Sonata no 1 (BWV 1001)
Partita no 1 (BWV 1002)
Partita no 2 (BWV 1004)

Saturday October 3, 2020 at 7:30 pm
Program
Sonata no 2 (BWV 1003)
Sonata no 3 (BWV 1005)
Partita no 3 (BWV 1006)

For tickets and information: www.mbam.qc.ca/en/bourgie-hall/  514-285-2000

Bourgie Concert Hall, at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) complex, is a 444-seat venue located in the restored Erskine and American Church (designed in 1894 in Neo-Romanesque style by architect Alexander Cowper Hutchison). Designated a national historic site in 1998, the transformed setting is now graced with high-quality acoustics and an exceptional décor incorporating 20 historic Tiffany stained glass windows. Ideal for performances by chamber-music ensembles, string orchestras, and other groups, Bourgie Concert Hall offer music lovers an auditory repertoire as diverse as the MMFA collections

Bourgie Concert Hall
1339 Sherbrooke Street West,
Montreal, Quebec
H3G 2E8