Montreal’s Pallade Musica Travels to Renaissance Italy

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Early Music Now presents Pallade Musica in “Terreno e vago” (“Earth and Reflection”), a program exploring the secular and spiritual elements found in 17th-century Italian repertoire.

Montréal-based Pallade Musica is comprised of Tanya LaPerrière (Baroque violin), Elinor Frey (Baroque cello), Esteban La Rotta (theorbo) and Mylène Bélanger (harpsichord). In October 2012, the young quartet won the Grand Prize in the Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition in New York, where their award included performance opportunities in Indianapolis, Seattle, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.  

The program includes music by Dario Castello, Angelo Maria Fiorè, Nicola Francesco Haym, Adam Jarzębski and Domenico Scarlatti, among others. Castello’s 1629 stil moderno sonatas feature interweaving melodic lines and theatrical effects. Jarzębski’s Concerto Terzo reveals the influence of the Polish composer’s Italian travels. Works by Nicola Francesco Haym and Angelo Maria Fioré showcase the development of their own instrument, the violoncello. Known for his harpsichord sonatas, Domenico Scarlatti is represented by Sonata K.141, which makes use of repeated notes and hand-crossing in a display of virtuosity.

“We often associate a contrast between the earthly and spiritual with choral music,” says Early Music Now Executive and Artistic Director Charles Q. Sullivan. “This program emphasizes that contrast in Baroque instrumental music.”

The performance takes place at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (914 E. Knapp St.), 5 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 16, with a pre-concert lecture at 4 p.m. An abbreviated version of this concert will take place at UW-Parkside (900 Wood Road, Kenosha) on Friday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. as the conclusion of an Early Music Now collaborative residency. For more information, go to earlymusicnow.org.