PROGRAMMES
As an ensemble specializing in Early Music, we mainly perform works from the 17th and 18th centuries on period instruments in our own arrangements.
In our programme selection, you will find a variety of unique concepts characterized by interdisciplinary, intercultural, music educational, or experimental approaches.
Our goal is to find ways to make Early Music accessible to contemporary and evolving audiences while consistently upholding the spirit of historical performance practice in line with the latest research.
MARSYAS & APOLLO
BETWEEN TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY
The story begins with Athena, goddess of wisdom, who invented the aulos—a double-reed flute. Upon seeing how it distorted her face, she cast it away. The satyr Marsyas found it, discovered his gift, and became a virtuoso. He dared to challenge Apollo, god of music, and was declared the winner by the Muses. But Apollo, unable to accept defeat, took cruel revenge and had Marsyas flayed alive.
Marsyas lives on as a symbol of artistic courage and self-expression. His myth echoes through music and art.
Marsyas Baroque brings this story to life with historical instruments—baroque bassoon, recorder, violin, viola da gamba, cello, harpsichord, and organ—performing works from the 16th to 18th centuries alongside a new commissioned piece. The myth behind the ensemble’s name is the heart of this program.
A SUITE CONNECTION
ENGLISH SUITES: DIEUPART & BACH
At the beginning of the 18th century, London was one of the most important cultural hotspots in Europe. Handel, Purcell and other virtuosos of the Italian school set the pace for music across the continent. Here, courtly music and folklore from all over Europe came together. Even the French composer Charles Dieupart settled in the flourishing metropolis. From 1703 until the end of his life, he worked there as a musician, composer and teacher and his famous Six Suittes inspired the German Johann Sebastian Bach to write his English Suites, which bear their name because they were dedicated to ‘a distinguished Englishman’ - who could only have been Dieupart.
This programme invites you on a journey to the London of Charles Dieupart: to the tunes that sounded there, which he himself played, and how this particular Frenchman, living in England, inspired a Bach who honoured Dieupart's talent from his home in Weimar.
Guest: Simon Linné – Archlute
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SOR JUANAS TRAUM
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Milena Cestao - Acting
Katrin Bethge - Lighting artist
Claudia Isabel Martín - Stage director
Dorothée Hahne – Composition
Sabrina Heitzer – Stage design
A SOLO REBELLION OF WORDS AND MUSIC
SOR JUANAS TRAUM is an interdisciplinary music theater project about the life of the brilliant intellectual Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648–1695) – nun, poet, philosopher, and pioneering feminist thinker.
The piece combines Sor Juana’s baroque texts and music with contemporary compositions, staged as a powerful solo performance. A second, fictional Sor Juana from the present comments on the action, building a bridge between past and present.
Light, sound, and theater merge into a poetic reflection on female creativity, the thirst for knowledge, and self-determination.
SOR JUANAS TRAUM is a passionate call for freedom and artistic expression.
BACH IN THE DARK
A CONCERT IN THE DARKNESS
Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most frequently performed composers of our time. With the ‘Bach in the Dark’ format, however, Marsyas Baroque invites the audience to a completely new listening experience: Bach in complete darkness - achieved by darkening the room as much as possible and providing night masks - changes everyone's perception. Without visual distraction, the music travels through the darkness.
In a 40-minute programme, the four musicians take the audience on a journey, a synthesis between space and music: Bach's complex fugues, lively dances, plaintive melodies and virtuoso sonatas can be heard and experienced in a completely different dimension and depth. The trio sonata in G major (BWV 1039), which stands at the programme's core, alternates with solo movements and excerpts from the Art of Fugue (BWV 1080) and the Musical Offering (BWV 1079).
The programme can be flexibly adapted to the wishes of the organiser and the space requirements. As an alternative to the 40-minute programme, it is also possible to request a programme in two halves of 30 minutes each with an break.
OF WOMEN AND MYTHS
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THE TIMELESS MUSES
Marin Marais opens the preface to his famous Pièces en trio by praising Mademoiselle Roland, a talented dancer, singer, and instrumentalist who carried her name to great fame.
Throughout the Baroque era, many women inspired composers—whether celebrated contemporaries like Roland and Princess Sophie Charlotte of Hanover, historical heroines like Cloelia, poets such as Corinna featured in Telemann’s Frauensonate, or mythological and everyday women. Female figures served as a limitless source of inspiration in music.
With the program Of Women and Myths, the ensemble Marsyas Baroque pays tribute not only to inspiring women and significant female composers of the 18th century such as Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Mrs. Philarmonica, and Anna Bon di Venezia, but also offers new perspectives on works by well-known composers like Telemann and Vivaldi – a musical journey of discovery filled with myths, stories, and historical events.
LA VIDA ES SUEÑO
A DRAMATIC CONCERT ABOUT THE ILLUSION OF LIFE
Together with the dance artist and choreographer Martí Corbera, the early music ensemble Marsyas Baroque presents the story of Segismundo from the drama ‘La vida es sueño’ by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. The German-Spanish ensemble and the talented flamenco dancer create a unique combination of sound and space that wanders between dream and reality.
The verse drama ‘La vida es sueño’ by Pedro Calderón de la Barca explores the tension between free will and predestination as well as those between reality and dream. Written in 1634/5, it masterfully reflects the central aspects of the Baroque mindset. This era was shaped by a profound change in the world view - from geocentrism (the earth as the centre) to heliocentrism (the sun as the centre) - which led to a significant intellectual upheaval.
In addition, ‘La vida es sueño’ was written at a time when the tension between civilisation and barbarism, triggered by the colonial expansion and the discovery of America, was stirring minds.
This new vision of the world was closely linked to the religious conflict caused by the Lutheran Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The Lutherans propagated predestination, while the Catholics defended free will.
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L’APOTHÉOSE DE CORELLI
CORELLI'S DEIFICATION
The Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli was acclaimed like a pop star during his lifetime. His music not only became a symbol of the Italian style, it also had far-reaching influence and was widely imitated throughout Europe. Even a fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach is based on a Corelli theme. In France, it was François Couperin who ennobled him in his work L'Apothéose de Corelli and made him ascend Parnassus, the Greek mountain of the muses.
With works by, about and around Corelli, Marsyas Baroque brings the timelessness of his music to life in this programme.
LA DOUCEUR –DER SÜSSE KLANG
FARBENREICHTUM IM DIALOG
Jean-Baptiste Lully is not only considered the inventor of the tragédie lyrique, but also one of the French Baroque's characteristic blend of string and flute instruments, on which this programme is all about. The unique combination of these instruments - recorders juxtaposed with violins - stood for softness and gentleness, in contrast to the combination of oboes and violins, which represented the grand sound at court. Carefully selected works from the French, German and Italian Baroque periods, which highlight this sound aesthetic extremely well, shape this concert programme.
Guests: Michael Form – Recorder | Katarzyna Olszewska – Baroque Violin
DIÁLOGOS
Guests:
Sebastian Flaig - Percussion
Juan Carlos Mestre (*1957) - Recitation in Spanish
Nora Zapf (*1985) - Recitation in German
POETRY - CONCERT
DIÁLOGOS is an artistic initiative that promotes dialogue between cultures, using literature and music for this purpose.
The Spanish-German ensemble Marsyas Baroque presents a poetry concert in which music and poetry from both cultures engage in a dialogue. Listeners embark on a journey of identity: Where do I belong? Where is the origin of my cultural identity?
Experience wonderful music by German and Spanish composers, framed by the recitations of two contemporary poets using their words to explore the questions of identity, origin and the pursuit of belonging. DIÁLOGOS creates a unique symbiosis of sound and language and challenges you to discover and reflect on cultural diversity.
Note: The texts will be translated and displayed to the audience during the performance.
DON QUICHOTTE
WITH LARS CONRAD, BARITON
AMONG KNIGHTS AND WINDMILLS - A FAMILY CONCERT
How do windmills sound in battle?
Do instruments sigh?
We welcome you to join us on the adventures of Spain's most famous knight - Don Quixote. We help our guests of honour, Miguel de Cervantes (the author himself) and the famous composer Georg Philipp Telemann, who have travelled through time and space, to tell this story through music: We let Rosinante gallop, try to win the love of Princess Dulcinea and celebrate hilarious feasts with Quixote's faithful squire Sancho Panza.
The German-Spanish ensemble, together with Lars Conrad, baritone, performs scenes from the Spanish classic ‘Don Quixote de La Mancha’ in an interactive concert with Telemann's ‘Burlesque de Quichotte’ (TWV 55:G10) and ‘Don Quixote at the Wedding of Comacho’ (TWV 21:32). With a colourful mixture of listening and active participation (body percussion, singing...), we take the children and their families on a fascinating journey to 17th century Spain.
For children aged 6-10 years
Should you be interested in knowing the specific repertoire of each programme, please contact us, and we will be happy to send you further information.