PROGRAMS & PROJECTS
Tasto Solo programs are the result of extensive research, historically informed creativity, artistic engagement, dramaturgy, and the unique soundscape of the ensemble. In addition to the programs listed below, we are also pleased to consider requests for bespoke creations.
It is our belief that there is no such thing as “difficult repertoire” or novice audiences. Music is a universal language and the beauty of its Art speaks to anyone, just like an exquisite miniature, a painting, or architecture does. All audiences can enjoy the richness of early music.
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Just like the rare and powerful astronomical alignment of Jupiter in the house of Gemini, the music of the Ars Subtilior occupies a rare and exciting place on the modern stage. In the Iberian Peninsula, during the last two decades of the 14th century, this delicate and refined repertoire was highly cultivated in courts of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon, from the southern lands to the borders of the French Kingdom. This program highlights the exceptional music of Senleches and Trebor, through their unique and personal compositions honouring the Hispanic monarchs.
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7 musicians:
3 singers (soprano, mezzo, tenor) and 4 instrumentalists (clavisimbalum, organetto, harp, fiddles). -
Ars Subtilior and Ars Nova compositions by Jacob de Senleches (fl. 1380-1400), Trebor (fl. 1380-1400), Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) and anonymous.
JUPITER IN GEMINI
Program pdf by request
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Among all the Renaissance Arts, music is certainly the most underrepresented today. This program, and its new CD release on Jordi Savall’s celebrated Alia Vox label, presents a unique blend of love songs and virtuoso instrumental music. Tasto Solo brings to the stage a fascinating and little-known taste of the Italian Renaissance featuring the genius Vincenzo Ruffo.
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7 musicians:
2 singers (soprano, tenor) and 5 instrumentalists (harpsichord, viol, lute, harp, organetto). -
Early Renaissance music by Vincenzo Ruffo (c.1510-1587), Philippe Verdelot (c.1480-c. 1530), Jacques Arcadelt (c.1507-1568), Jhan Gero (c.1518-1553), Domenico Ferrabosco (1513-1574), Clement Janequin (c.1485-1558) and anonymous dances from the Manuscript of Castell’Arquato.
EROS & SUBTILITAS
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At the end of the 15th century Sevilla´s central Sierpes street was a primary location for the guild of carpenters and violeros: makers of the vihuela and other plucked instruments. Thanks to the support of the little-known composer Henricus Tik, active in the city´s cathedral during this period, the neighbourhood would soon welcome Maestre Enrique, a harpsichord maker, and his wife Violante Rodríguez. Tasto Solo explores the early roots of the original Spanish “tecla, arpa y vihuela” repertoire through the music that would have been played in their workshop.
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4 musicians:
1 singers (soprano) and 3 instrumentalists (clavisimbalum, harp, vihuela). -
15h century secular and liturgical works by J. Dunstaple (c. 1390-1453), G. Binchois (c. 1400-1460), G. Dufay (1397-1474), H. Tik (fl. 1460), J. Ockeghem (c. 1420-1497), and anonymous.
HENRICUS ME FECIT HISPALI
Program pdf by request
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During the Middle Ages, the motet became one of the most epic and refined musical vehicles to celebrate God and religion and to praise important personalities and events. In the 14th century, Philippe the Vitry enhanced this musical form to its pinnacle by using the new compositional techniques of combining Latin and secular texts, turning his motets into veritable musical cathedrals.
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11 musicians:
5 singers (sopranos, mezzo, tenors) and 6 instrumentalists (organ, clavisimbalum, fiddles, harp, medieval trumpet, bells). -
Medieval sacred and celebrative motets from the late 13th to the early 15th centuries composed by Philippe de Vitry, Johannes Ciconia, Matteo da Perugia, and anonymous compositions from the Montpellier Manuscript and the Codex Faenza 117.
LES MOTETS DE PH. DE VITRY
Program pdf by request
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Discover the intimate combination of the voice and the portative organ performing some of the most inspired early sacred polyphony from the end of the 13th century. Accompanied by the fiddle and percussion, this program explores interactions between secular monody and the development of religious works at the end of the Ars Antiqua.
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[Small cast] 2 musicians:
1 singer (soprano) and 1 instrumentalist (organetto).
[Medium cast] 4 musicians:
1 singer (soprano) and 3 instrumentalists (organetto, fiddle, percussion). -
Anonymous 13th century liturgical music, devotional songs, and medieval secular dances and monodies from the Codex Las Huelgas, the Montpellier Manuscript and contemporary sources.
LA FLOR EN PARADIS
Program pdf by request
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Beatrice of Naples, a descendant of the powerful Crown of Aragon, was consecrated Queen of Hungary in 1476 following her marriage to King Matthias Corvin. This concert program, commissioned by the Festival of Veszprém and presenting compositions related and dedicated to Beatrice, sets to music the journey of this great Renaissance lady, heiress of a humanist and cosmopolitan culture, full of different aesthetics, languages, and influences.
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6 musicians:
2 singers (soprano, baritone) and 4 instrumentalists (organetto, clavisimbalum, fiddle, harp). -
Italian, French and English works by Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474), Antoine Busnois (c.1430-1492), Walter Frye (fl.1450), Johannes Tinctoris (c.1435-1511) and anonymous composers, preserved in the Mellon Chansonnier: one of the world’s most celebrated collections of medieval songs, perhaps commissioned as a gift for Beatrice’s wedding.
BEATRICE OF ARAGON
Program pdf by request
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“The remarkable musicianship of Tasto Solo’s musicians, their stunning virtuosity, their feeling for colours and shades, their interpretative creativity and fantasy make this program a real gem”. Pizzicato Magazine. “C'est cristallin tout en étant robuste et dense. Affirmé et posé avec délicatesse et franchise. Des résonances qui viennent de loin, des harmoniques inouïs. La sagesse mêlée à la folie. Engagement, sens de l'improvisation des interprètes font merveille. Un miracle absolu.”. ClicMusique!
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[Instrumental] 4 musicians:
4 instrumentalists (organetto, harpsichord, Renaissance harp, Renaissance guitar).
[Instrumental and vocal] 5 musicians:
1 singer (soprano) 4 instrumentalists (organetto, harpsichord, Renaissance harp, Renaissance guitar). -
English Renaissance Music, including songs, instrumental consorts and grounds, by Robert Cooper (c.1474-1535), Hugh Aston (c.1485-1558), the King Henry VIII (1491-1547), Thomas Preston (fl.1550) and anonymous works from 16th century English manuscripts.
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH MUSIC
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In this chansonnier-program, Tasto Solo presents a selection of some of the most extraordinary ballades and rondeaux by Binchois and Dufay, in addition to a variety of artistic, performative, and musicological reflexions. Among them, the experimentation surrounding the instrumental tablatures of the chansons preserved in the famous Buxheim codex and the tangible work on Medieval portable organs and strung keyboard instruments: the eschiquier.
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6 musicians:
1 singer (soprano) and 5 instrumentalists (organetto, clavisimbalum, fiddle, 2 harps). -
Works by Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474), Gilles Binchois (c.1400-1460), John Dunstaple (c.1390-1453), Bartolomeus Bruolo (fl.1430) and anonymous instrumental arrangements from the Buxheim Codex (c.1460).
LE CHANT DE LESCHIQUIER
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During the 15th century, German and Flemish cities, thanks to lay authorities, guilds, and the musical patronage of the rich bourgeois, organized exuberant Marian devotional celebrations filled with music. Motets, sacred songs, plainchant, and instrumental tablatures, sung and played “in chordis et organo”, has an important place in the celebration of the Mass and the performance of the famous Salve concerts.
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9 musicians:
4 singers (sopranos, mezzo) and 5 instrumentalists (organetto, organ, clavisimbalum, fiddle, harp, bells). -
Plainsongs, Ordinarium Missae settings, alternatim works and devotional Latin songs from the Buxheim Codex and other 15th century European sources.
SALVE PSALLENTES
Program pdf by request
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“Deploratio mortis”, songs of sadness, lamentations of misfortune... At the beginning of the Renaissance, the topos of regret inspired works by some of the most famous composers and masters of early polyphony, such as Pierre de la Rue, Josquin des Prez, or Alexander Agricola. These resonances, and the sounds of Tasto Solo, recently inspired the well-known Spanish composer José María Sánchez-Vérdu, who wrote several compositions for the ensemble including the “Totentanz-Buch” (premiere at the Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca) and “Tous les Regretz” (premiere at the Museu del Prado, Madrid).
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8 musicians:
3 singers (soprano, tenor, bass) and 5 instrumentalists (organetto, organ, clavisimbalum, fiddle, harp). -
Medieval and Early Renaissance pieces in dialogue with new compositions by José-María Sánchez Verdú (1968) and 20th century composers.
