A Sunday afternoon of music and film presented by Salon/Sanctuary Concerts in collaboration with the Museum of Jewish Heritage and Centro Primo Levi. Curated by Jessica Gould.
Program:
Instrumental overture
The trio sonatas of Salomone Rossi. Leah Nelson, Lisa Rautenberg (violins), Daniel Swenberg (theorbo)
Talk | Francesco Spagnolo, UC Berkeley
Rethinking Salomone Rossi’s Music’
Intermission and refreshments
Film screening
Joseph Rochlitz, Hebreo: In Search of Salomone Rossi
Concert
I Profeti della Quinta, At the Courts of Mantua and Ferrara
About the concert
A violinist in Monteverdi’s orchestra, Salomone Rossi (c.1570 – 1630) is credited with having invented the trio sonata. His introduction of polyphonic music to the synagogue, where only monody had been accepted as befitting a people in exile, earned him both scorn and praise from members of his community. His sister, a soprano at the same court that he served, premiered roles and sang madrigals of Monteverdi at Palazzo Te, the pleasure palace of the Gonzagas. In his dual role as court and synagogue composer, Rossi inhabited two worlds at a curious time of both heightened physical segregation and active social interaction between Jews and Christians. An afternoon of music and film offers a unique opportunity to explore the many forces that shaped his shifting world and beautiful music, and the tension between exile and acceptance that often recedes but never fades from history.
I Profeti della Quinta was founded in Kibbutz Cabri, in the Upper Galilee region of Israel by the bass and harpsichord player Elam Rotem. As studenta of the Cabri High School for the Arts, Rotem and his friends became fascinated with the sound of Medieval and Renaissance music and decided to pursue a path that led them to bring that sound back to life for contemporary audiences. They are currently based in Basel, where all members of the group undertook further study at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
Thanks: Consulate General of Israel, Italian Cultural Institute
