Noord-Duitse barok

Musica Gloria is the effervescent baroque ensemble of young musicians Beniamino Paganini and Nele Vertommen. They introduce us to Georg Österreich (1664-1735), a north German composer with a unique style and timbre. Österreich wrote music for the oboe – an instrument that originally came from France – much earlier than his German and Italian colleagues, and even gave it a star role.

In December 2022, oboist Nele Vertommen was searching for “the earliest repertoire” for the oboe, when she suddenly stumbled upon a large, historical collection compiled by Georg Österreich and his successor Bokemeyer in Berlin’s digital library.

Nele Vertommen: “What struck me was that Österreich primarily collected music by people close to his heart and with whom he collaborated. He also performed many of these works himself during his time as Kapellmeister. Sometimes he arranged the pieces to suit the instrumentation he had available, or so that the oboe - the new instrument from France - could play along.”

Because the Österreich collection in Berlin is not arranged as a collection, it was a real search. After weeks of browsing and taking notes, Nele arrived at a shortlist of pieces for her ensemble Musica Gloria.

Nele Vertommen: “All the works in this programme are ‘unrecorded’ and probably also unperformed in past centuries. So it will be an exciting and enjoyable voyage of discovery. So apart from a premiere of this programme, the audience in Leuven will also be able to experience the premiere of these pieces since the 17th century.”

The concert at 30CC will therefore be a world premiere. The day after, Musica Gloria travels to northern Germany for their first CD recording with a vocal ensemble. They travel so far for this, to also make use of an ideal organ for this programme. After the recordings, they return to Belgium via the Netherlands for three additional concerts.

This concert is an anthology of pieces from Österreich’s collection, composed by himself and some of his most beloved colleagues such as Johann Theile, Johann Philipp Förtsch and others.

More info

beniaminopaganini.com/over-musica-gloria

Maria Ladurner & Wei-Lian Huang (soprano) - Sophia Faltas & Filip Dámec (alto) - Adriaan De Koster & Rodrigo Carreto (tenor) - Vincent Berger & Thomas Vandenabeele (bass) - Nele Vertommen (oboe & artistic direction) - Dymphna Vandenabeele (oboe) - José Rodrigues Gomes (bassoon) - Elise Dupont & Fiona-Émilie Poupard (violin) - Jonathan Ponet & Lena Rademann (viola) - Anne-Linde Visser (cello) - Chloé Mourgeon (organ & harpsichord) - Beniamino Paganini (harpsichord, organ and artistic direction)