This event has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation.

Early Music Youth Academy: The World of Salamone Rossi Presented by Early Music America in its Young Performers Festival at the Berkeley Festival of Early Music

This instrumental ensemble of skilled teen players on violas da gamba, violin, lute, and harp is joined by the nationally in-demand theorbo player John Lenti as gorgeous music of Salamone Rossi comes to life in the context of his vibrant yet troubling times. Guest teen solo singers in period costume bring to life Rossi’s courtly Italian madrigaletti and his innovative sacred music in Hebrew, along with readings from members of the composer's circle.

This prolific and inventive early-17th-century Italian musician composed during one of the most exciting transitions in music history, and our chronological sampling of Rossi's works reveals how he helped transform the poignant symmetries of the Renaissance into the expressive virtuosity of the early Baroque on voices and instruments. By day Rossi commuted to work in the household of Mantua's Gonzaga dukes, composing music for their court ceremonies and performing in their wedding festivities. But at night, he and all of the city's Jewish population were required by law to return behind the walls of the Jewish ghetto.

Directed by Shulamit Kleinerman from the Renaissance violin, the Early Music Youth Academy is a program of Seattle Historical Arts for Kids, which is proud to help enrich our understanding of the music we love by both facing its complex history and celebrating its cultural diversity.

Time TBA. For more information, visit www.earlymusicamerica.org.