Baroque Journey

Baroque specialist Fabio Biondi takes the audience back through the centuries to revisit some of the most influential composers in music history.

The journey begins with Corelli, who laid the foundation for modern violin technique and inspired his contemporaries across Europe.

Next is Locatelli, with one of his first concerti grossi that was strongly influenced by the master’s style. Then, we’ll visit one of Corelli’s greatest admirers: Johann Sebastian Bach, whose musical brilliance defined the Baroque era. For the occasion, Biondi will pick up his instrument to play with the evening’s soloist, Kerson Leong, in Concerto for Two Violins.

The journey will circle back to its Italian roots with Symphony No. 4 by Mendelssohn, who prompted a rediscovery of Baroque music and Bach’s compositions nearly 100 years after his death.

Artists
Orchestre Métropolitain

Fabio Biondi, conductor

A leading figure in the reinterpretation of early music and historically informed performance, his repertoire covers three centuries and contains both masterworks and less familiar or even forgotten output.

Fabio BiondiDriven by a deep cultural curiosity, Fabio Biondi is a musician ceaselessly in pursuit of a style that is free from constraints. From his early development, guided by pioneers of period performance, Biondi’s work has incorporated repertoire spanning three centuries. His infectious enthusiasm and determination to put music first mark him out in his quest for an ‘original language’, both in globally-known works and in his commitment to researching and illuminating lesser-known masterpieces.

In 1989, following extensive work with specialist ensembles, Biondi founded Europa Galante, which quickly became the foremost Italian period ensemble. Biondi and his ensemble have forged a reputation for “fresh, vibrant performances” (New York Times) and breathed new life into Baroque, Classical and early Romantic repertoire, performing at leading international festivals and stages including the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wiener Konzerthaus, Enescu Festival and Edinburgh International Festival.

Biondi brings this authentic and engaging approach to modern symphony and chamber orchestras, which he both conducts and directs from the violin. Recent and future highlights include the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, RAI Torino, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Helsinki Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Bamberg Symphony, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Mahler Chamber orchestras, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He was Artistic Director for Baroque Music at the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra for eleven years until 2016.

Kerson Leong, violin

“It would be madness on the part of the musical world not to understand he is one of the great violinists of the 21st century.” – Augustin Dumay

Kerson LeongKerson Leong has been described as “not just one of Canada’s greatest violinists but one of the greatest violinists, period” (Toronto Star). Forging a unique path since his First Prize win at the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in 2010, he continues to win over colleagues and audiences alike with “a mixture of spontaneity and mastery, elegance, fantasy, intensity that makes his sound recognizable from the first notes” (Le Monde).

Recent season highlights include solo performances with such ensembles as the Royal, Oslo, Brussels, Kansai, and Liège Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, the Seattle, Singapore, Toledo, Montreal, Tucson, Bilkent, Toronto, Vancouver, Stavanger, and Wuppertal Symphony Orchestras, a tour of Sweden with the Camerata Nordica, a recital tour of the Midwestern United States, and recording John Rutter’s Visions with the composer himself and the Aurora Chamber Orchestra, after giving its world premiere in London, UK.

As a sought-after soloist, he was hand-picked by Yannick Nézet-Séguin to be his artist-in-residence with the Orchestre Métropolitain during the 18/19 season and has performed in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Wigmore Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. As a passionate chamber musician, he has performed at such international festivals and concert series as the Verbier Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Flâneries musicales de Reims, and Bergen International Festival among others.

Program
Arcangelo CORELLI, Concerto Grosso, Op. 6, No. 4
Pietro LOCATELLI, Concerto Grosso, Op. 1, No. 5
Johann Sebastian BACH, Concerto for Two Violins
Felix MENDELSSOHN, Symphony No. 4, “Italian”

April 12, 2025 at 7:30pm
Maison symphonique

To purchase your tickets, visit: www.placedesarts.com