Musica Amphion

2019-05-08 00:00:00

Musica Amphion, led by founder Pieter-Jan Belder and concertmaster Rémy Baudet, focusses on the performance of 17th- and 18th-century orchestral and chamber-music repertoire using period instruments.

All the musicians in Musica Amphion have successful careers as soloists, or perform regularly with renowned baroque orchestras, such as the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Freiburger Baroque Orchestra and the Academy of Ancient Music. Initially, the ensemble gathered annually for a limited CD-recording period, but soon appeared in concerts as well.

Since then, Musica Amphion has performed regularly in venues in The Netherlands and abroad, ranging from a 12th-century abbey to the Great Hall of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw. Invitations to appear at international festivals have taken them to Germany (Bremer Musikfest, among others), Russia (Sacharov Festival Nizhny Novgorod), and, closer to home, the Festival of Old Music in Utrecht.

In 2010 they presented a semi-staged version of Mozart’s Magic Flute. At the end of 2011, Musica Amphion launched their long-term project Bach in Context: Cantatas, organ works and motets – which together formed the music for services in Bach’s time – are virtually never performed in combination with each other.

Together with Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam, Musica Amphion brings this repertoire to audiences in its original context. Although the service itself is left out, the musical feeling of Bach in Context transports audiences back to Bach’s time.

The ensemble’s extensive discography covers, amongst others, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, the Musical Offering and the concertos for two, three and four harpsichords, Telemann’s Tafelmusik, the complete works of Corelli, Henry Purcell’s chamber music, Rameau’s Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts, and Mozart’s early piano concertos.

The recording of harpsichord concertos by Bach and his sons, which appeared on the Quintone label, received a “10” from Luister magazine, and was described in the press as “the most appealing Baroque CD for a long time” (Kasper Jansen, NRC). Recently, a recording of the harpsichord concertos by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was also awarded the highest possible distinction.

Musica Amphion has recorded five programmes in the series Bach in Context, released worldwide as a handsomely designed CD-book.

Ever since 2005, Musica Amphion is a frequent guest in the Royal Concertgebouw. In 2011 they performed Purcell's Dido & Aeneas with Sarah Connolly and Collegium Vocale Gent. In 2012 Musica Amphion and Collegium Vocale Gent presented a Handel and Vivaldi programme.

In October 2014, Musica Amphion presented a series of concerts in Japan, with a performance for the Emperor – offered by His Majesty King Willem Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Máxima as part of the State Visit of The Netherlands to Japan – as highlight.

As a result of this performance an opera tour is planned around the Island of Dejima, the trade mission in the 17th - 19th century in Nagasaki

https://www.musica-amphion.nl/