When? Sunday 12.10.202517:00 - 18:15

Ensemble Vocal du Luxembourg & Orchester L’arpa festante

Name: Ensemble Vocal du Luxembourg & Orchester L’arpa festante
Start: 2025-10-12T17:00+02:00
End: 2025-10-12T18:15+02:00
Location: TRIFOLION Echternach

Where? 2, Porte St. Willlibrord, L-6486 Echternach Music Festivals

Echter'Classic Festival

Passio - Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725) | Passio secundum Joannem & Responsori per la Settimana Santa (extraits)

With this program dedicated to the Italian oratorio master Alessandro Scarlatti, baroque expressiveness can be heard and experienced in all its diversity. To mark the 300th anniversary of his death in 2025, the Ensemble Vocal du Luxembourg and the L'arpa festante orchestra under the direction of Matthias Rajczyk invite you to immerse yourself in the expressive and theatrical world of his Passio domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem.

Excerpts from the Responsori per la Settimana Santa set meditative accents and lend additional depth to the narrative. In a lively interplay between narrative and emotion, the soloists, choir and orchestra bring the characters and moods of the Passion story to life.

A powerful and moving concert at the interface between sacred theater and baroque beauty.

Orchestra L'arpa festante

“L'arpa festante”, the dramatic work by Giovanni Battista Maccioni performed at the opening of the Munich Opera House in 1653, is symbolic of the artistic work and musical commitment of the baroque - or rather, original sound - orchestra of the same name. Founded in 1983, L'arpa festante is one of Germany's longest-established early music ensembles and has built up an outstanding reputation not only as a distinctive ensemble for the performance of instrumental works, but also as a partner for capable choirs in performances of the entire Baroque, Classical and Romantic choral-orchestral literature. L'arpa festante uses the appropriate original instruments depending on the period of origin of the works performed and can thus faithfully reproduce the timbres of the works.

The extensive musical experience of the individual musicians and the virtuosity of their musical skills result in the unmistakable sound character of the ensemble: colorful, nuanced, sensitive, expressive. With the tonal diversity of historical instruments, the dramatic moment in the music is brought to life.

After initially focusing on the rediscovery and performance of unknown works from the 17th and 18th centuries, the oratorio and symphonic repertoire of the Romantic period has increasingly come to the fore in recent years. Depending on the musical requirements of the works performed, arrangements ranging from solo concertino to a full orchestra of over 50 musicians are possible.

Numerous CD recordings, enthusiastically received by critics and audiences alike, have made L'arpa festante widely known. The discography now includes over 70 releases on prestigious labels such as Sony, Accent, Carus, Cpo, Ars and Naxos and ranges from high baroque works (Rupert Ignaz Mayr, David Pohle, Johann Philipp Förtsch, Dietrich Buxtehude) to late baroque (Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, Georg Friedrich Händel, Jan Dismas Zelenka) and classical music (Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Heinrich Graun, Josef Haydn, G. M. Monn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Rosetti Ludwig van Beethoven) to Romanticism (Anton Bruckner, Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, Carl Loewe, Camille Saint-Saens, César Fanck, Gabriel Fauré, Bernhard Molique, Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner).

L'arpa festante is directed by Christoph Hesse (concertmaster, organization).

The Ensemble Vocal du Luxembourg (EVL) was founded in 1991 by Pierre Cao and has around 28 members. The choir has developed into one of the leading ensembles in the Greater Region and has given more than 200 performances since its foundation. The choir's repertoire covers all eras of choral literature, from early music and romantic choral works to world premieres of contemporary music. The choir regularly focuses on works from the 20th and 21st centuries. The EVL's programs are characterized by a coherence of content, whereby the context of the works is often provided by textual aspects.

Some of the choir's programs:

Tales from the Earth and the Sea (2023), Madrigalisten und Stadtpfeifer (2022), Die Stimme des Kindes (2021), Lux & Umbra (2019), Nova & Vetera (2019), Créateurs et créatures (2016), Cycle: Les quatre saisons (Musique et photographie) (2013-2015 - en collaboration avec les photographes Gery Oth et Raymond Clement), Amour en Musique (2012), Les grands compositeurs et la chanson populaire (2011), Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (2011), Balladen, Romanzen und Lieder (2009), Musique et poésie (2008), Zeitlos, grenzenlos (2007), Music for ceremonies (2006)

Oratorio works are also performed at longer intervals, such as ‘The Creation’ by Haydn (2005, 2024), ‘Messiah’ by Handel (2008), the Mass in B minor, the Christmas Oratorio and St John Passion by Bach (2010, 2016 and 2021), “Requiem” by Mozart (2018), ‘A German Requiem’ by Brahms (2024). The EVL has also performed Verdi's Requiem together with the Bach Choir Mainz, ‘Elijah by Mendelssohn Bartholdy’ with the National Choir from Luxembourg and ‘Alexander Nevsky’ by Prokofiev with the Opera Choir from Nancy. In 2020, the EVL made its debut as an opera choir in ‘Dido and Aeneas’ by Purcell under the direction of Jean Halsdorf, in a production by Claude Mangen.

The following guest conductors were invited: Ariel Alonso, Gabriel Baltes, Philippe Barth, Vincent Bernhardt, Jean-Philippe Billmann, Pierre Cao, Martin Folz, Wolfgang Helbich, Thomas Hofereiter, Camille Kerger, Stephan Langenfeld, Václav Luks, Jeff Mack, Rutger Mauritz, Rosch Mirkes, Marie-Béatrice Nickers, Ralf Otto, Roby Schiltz, Florent Stroesser and Guy Van Waas.

The EVL regularly performs at the most important festivals in Luxembourg and the Greater Region. The EVL is funded by the Luxembourg Ministry of Culture.

PROGRAM: 

Passio - Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)

Passio Secundum Joannem Responsori per la Settimana Santa (Extraits)

Passio domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem

1. Plange quasi virgo*

2. Passio domini nostri Jesu Christi (Testo)

3. Plange quasi virgo*

4. In illo tempore egressus est (Testo, Christus, Turba)

5. Ecce vidimus eum*

6. Sequebatur autem Jesum Simon Petrus (Testo, Ancilla, Petrus, Judaeus, Christus, Turba)

7. Omnes amici mei*

8. Adducunt ergo Jesum a Caipha (Testo, Pilatus, Turba, Christus)