“A Tale of Two Italian Cities: chamber music from Venice and Naples”
- Vivaldi: Lute Concerto and La Pastorella
- Castello: Sonata 15 in 4 parts
- Scarlatti: Concerto in A minor
- Falconieri: Folías para mi señora Doña Torolilla
Website: http://tempestadimare.org
Fanfare magazine recently hailed Tempesta di Mare for its “abundant energy, immaculate ensemble, impeccable intonation, and an undeniable sense of purpose.” Led by directors Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone with concertmaster Emlyn Ngai, Tempesta performs baroque music on baroque instruments with a repertoire that ranges from staged opera to chamber music. The group performs all orchestral repertoire without a conductor, as was the practice when this music was new.
Tempesta’s Philadelphia Concert Series, noted by the Philadelphia Inquirer for its “off-the-grid chic factor,” emphasizes creating a sense of discovery for artists and audience alike. Launched in 2002, the series has included 31 modern “world premieres” of lost or forgotten baroque masterpieces, leading the Inquirer to describe it as “an old-music group that acts like a new-music group, by pushing the cutting edge back rather than forward.” Its supporters include the Pew Charitable Trusts, the William Penn Foundation, the Presser Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
In a marketplace dominated by European ensembles, Tempesta is the only American baroque music group to record for the prestigious British label Chandos. Current releases are Weiss: Lute Concerti (2004), Handel: Flaming Rose (2007), Scarlatti: Cantatas and Chamber Music (2010), Fasch: Orchestral Music, vol. 1 (2008), vol. 2 (2011) and vol. 3 (2012), Bach: Trio Sonatas, BWV 525–530 (2014), Mancini: Sonatas for a Flute, (2014), and Comédie et Tragédie: French baroque orchestral music for the theater, vol. 1 (2015) and vol. 2 (2016, forthcoming). National broadcasts of live performances include SymphonyCast, Performance Today, Sunday Baroque and Harmonia. Our concert recordings are distributed worldwide via the European Broadcasting Union, a global alliance of public service media organizations, with members in 56 countries in Europe and beyond.
Tempesta’s international appearances have included the Prague Spring Music Festival, the Göttingen Handel Festival, the Mendelssohn-Remise Berlin and the International Fasch Festival in Zerbst. Notable North American presenters have included the Frick Collection, the Oregon Bach Festival, Abbey Bach Festival, Whitman College, Cornell Concerts, the Yale Collection, the Flagler Museum, and the Garmany Series, Hartford. This season, the orchestra performs on the Miami Bach Festival.