Programmes
2025/2026
I. The Art of the Italian Concerto
AAM leader Bojan Čičić takes us on a return trip to baroque Italy, in this celebration of the Italian concerto in all its wildly entertaining forms – from Vivaldi’s Venice to the splendour of Rome.
Take the warmth of Italy. Add the energy of the baroque, plus the novelty and glamour of the very latest in musical technology: the violin. Today we celebrate the Italian concerto, a sunburst of creativity, flamboyance and sheer musical imagination that took Europe by storm – and transformed the way we listen.
Tonight, we’ll meet some old friends: who doesn’t love the showmanship and melody of Vivaldi’s L’Estro Armonico, or the unchained exuberance of a Corelli Concerto Grosso? Locatelli, Valentini and Mossi are less well-known, but every bit as entertaining. AAM’s leader Bojan Čičić leads a hand-picked team of virtuoso players to rediscover a fabulous lost world: music that never loses its power to seduce, dazzle and delight.
Programme
Mossi Concerto in G minor for 4 violins, No. 12
Locatelli Concerto grosso in C minor, Op. 4 No. 11
Vivaldi Violin Concerto in E major No. 12 RV265, from L’Estro Armonico
Vivaldi Concerto in D minor for two violins No. 11 RV565, from L’Estro Armonico
Valentini Concerto in A minor for 4 violins
Corelli Concerto grosso in D major, Op. 6 No. 4
Performers
Academy of Ancient Music
Bojan Čičić director & violin
II. Händel’s Heroines
Laurence Cummings and Nardus Williams present some of Handel's most powerful heroines.
Curtain up on some fascinating, seductive female characters: Medea, Cleopatra, Semele and the Queen of Sheba. They all inspired George Frideric Handel to write great music for his operas and oratorios, arias filled with virtuosity and emotion. No composer of his time was better at endowing the personalities of these women with musical glamour. To open our Baroque Weekend, the Academy of Ancient Music under Laurence Cummings, with soprano Nardus Williams, will introduce us to some of Handel’s most powerful, headstrong heroines.
Programme
G.F. Handel The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (from Solomon)
Endless Pleasure (from Semele)
Concerto for Oboe No. 3 in G minor
Dolce riposo ed inoccente pace (from Teseo)
Felicissima quest’alma (from Apollo and Daphne)
Suite of dances from Ariodante and Alcina
Lascia la spina (from Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno)
Concerto Grosso Op. 3 No. 2 in B-flat Major
Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 9 in F Major
O Ecstasy of Happiness (from Semele)
Myself I shall adore (from Semele)
Piangerò la Sorte Mia (from Giulio Cesare)
Overture: Passacaille (from Rodrigo)
Overture: Gavotte (from Otton)
Overture to Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno
Bless’d the Day (from Solomon)
Performers
Mary Bevan - soprano
Academy of Ancient Music &
Laurence Cummings – conductor
III. Christoph Sietzen, Bogdan Bacanu & Academy of Ancient Music
Experience worlds colliding as old meets new in this audacious new programme devised by Christoph Sietzen and the Academy of Ancient Music.
Expect creative sparks to fly as period instruments are joined with percussion for virtuosic arrangements of music spanning nearly 600 years – by JS Bach, Geminiani, Xenakis, Weiss and others – all presented with the trademark energy and effervescence for which both artists are renowned.
Programme
Antonio Bertali Ciaconna in C major
Francesco Geminiani Concerto Grosso Op. 5 No. 12 ‘La Folia’
G.F. Handel Chaconne in G major with 21 Variations, HWV435
J.S. Bach Harpsichord Concerto in G minor BWV1058 (Arrangement for two marimbas and orchestra)
Giorgio Musolesi New work for drums and baroque orchestra world premiere
Unknown (Italy/16th century) Istanpitta Saltarello
Iannis Xenakis Rebonds B for solo percussion
Constanzo Festa Variations on La Spagna – Contrapunto 46, 88, 77 and 108
J.S. Bach Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV1052 (Arrangement for two marimbas and orchestra)
Performers
Christoph Sietzen - percussion
Bogdan Bacanu - percussion
Academy of Ancient Music
Bojan Čičić - director
IV. Handel Il Trionfo del Tempo
Handel’s spectacular, rarely performed oratorio
The Triumph of Time and Enlightenment: Laurence Cummings rediscovers the eternal truths (and very real delights) of Handel’s spectacular Italian oratorio.
Beauty knows that she’s fragile. Pleasure assures her that she’ll never fade – but then, he says that to all the girls. Enlightenment has some uncomfortable truths to tell, and Time, of course, always wins in the end. Or does he? In Handel’s allegorical oratorio, emotions take on a startlingly human form.
Before he came to London, Handel took Italy by storm. They called him ‘the dear Saxon’, and in Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno he turns philosophy into pure theatre. Still relatively unfamiliar in the English-speaking world, it’s an absolute knockout: flamboyant, expressive and containing some of Handel’s very greatest melodies. It’s a real passion project for Laurence Cummings, who conducts four of the most charismatic vocalists on the current baroque scene.
Programme
Handel Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno HWV46a
Performers
Sophie Junker - Beauty
Anna Dennis - Pleasure
Reginald Mobley - Enlightenment
Nick Pritchard - Time
Academy of Ancient Music
Laurence Cummings – conductor
V. Bach’s The Art of Fugue
Four actors, four musicians, one unparalleled musical genius. From the theatrical imagination of Bill Barclay, a completely new journey into Bach’s astonishing Art of Fugue.
Bach meant The Art of Fugue to be the pinnacle of his life’s work: an unparalleled feat of craft, intelligence and sheer joy in the act of creation. In this intimate, inquisitive piece of music theatre, Bach’s work and legacy springs to witty, touching, sometimes startling life, all illuminated by that astonishing music.
Because even genius like this is the product of a human personality. And no-one is better at revealing the imagination behind the music than director Bill Barclay – whose theatrical productions take the music as their script. Four actors create their own special counterpoint with the musicians of AAM, but always with one goal in mind: to let us feel the living presence of music’s most beautiful mind.
Programme
J.S. Bach The Art of Fugue
Performers
Academy of Ancient Music
Laurence Cummings/director
Bill Barclay/producer
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