Credit: Julien Benhamou ‘The Eric Clapton of the lute’ĭunford was raised in France, the son of two leading performers on the baroque viola da gamba.

These are interspersed as slow-fast pairs between three concertos, two for Dunford’s lute and one for Jupiter’s cellist Bruno Philippe. “We try to keep the same team together as much as we can, so that the group can gel together and get all the right reflexes.”ĭesandre sings four arias from Vivaldi operas: two from his only surviving oratorio Juditha triumphans, and one from the sacred vocal composition Nisi Dominus. “Lea was our voice at the beginning, and I try to do as many programs with her as I can,” Dunford says. Jupiter’s vocalist is French-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre, a fixture with the group from its outset. If you balance duck liver with ice cream, you won’t get overloaded.” “I always like to learn from composers.” With Vivaldi, the vocal excerpts give the audience some breathing space that an unbroken parade of concertos - even with a variety of featured instruments - cannot. “I love when programs tell different things,” Dunford says.

The ensemble started out with Vivaldi upon its 2018 debut, and an all-Vivaldi program will be featured throughout its current North American tour, including the group’s Front Range debut at Macky Auditorium on March 22 as part of the CU Presents Artist Series. An all-Vivaldi program can therefore become monotonous even if most of the program is unknown.įor Thomas Dunford, lute virtuoso and founder of the Jupiter Ensemble, a sampling of the composer’s much-neglected vocal output is one way to change things up. Classical music enthusiasts may know just a handful of his more than 500 concertos, including the ubiquitous Four Seasons, but the Italian baroque composer is one of the easiest to identify through his stylistic formula. Photo by Julien Benhamou.Īntonio Vivaldi is the most familiar and unfamiliar of major composers. Jupiter Ensemble makes its Front Range debut on March 22 as part of the CU Presents Artist Series.

Vivaldi seasons winter