We are going ahead strong with the exhibitions of the Orpheon Foundation.

This information has just been released in Goldberg, an international music magazine which appears in English, Spanish and French.

The Strad Magazine (London) will be doing an article on the Orpheon collection and exhibitions in one of the coming issues.

In the meantime the dates for the exhibitions in Jindrichuv Hradec,  Ibiza and Valencia have been confirmed.

Jindrichuv Hradec (CZ): 12 - 22 July, 2004
Ibiza (E): 24th sept - 24th october, 2004
Valencia (E): 27th october, 2004 - end of January 2005

Orpheon Foundation

April 2 - May 16, 2004
Rambouillet (Yvelines, near Paris), France

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/festesdethalie/ProjetRambouillet.html

http://www.mdw.ac.at/I105/orpheon/Seiten/Abra/vazquezcoll.htm

http://www.mdw.ac.at/I105/orpheon/Seiten/exhibition/exhibit.htm

The collection, which now contains over 100 instruments (viola da gamba, viola d'amore, violin, viola, violoncello, violone, baryton) dating from 1560 to 1780, has been declared unique by the directors and curators of the most prestigeous museums of musical instruments in the world, including the Metropolitan Museum, N.Y., the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., the Shrine to Music, South Dakota, as well as by prominent experts on musical instruments.

The instruments in the collection are all restored to their original playing conditions and placed at the disposal of members of the Orpheon Orchestra, Orpheon Consort, and professional musicians all over Europe for concerts, recordings and study purposes. They have also been the subject of in scientific investigation by the Institut für Wiener Klangstil (Vienna University) and the University of Hamburg.

Its owner, Prof. José Vázquez of the University for Music and the Performing Arts Vienna believes that it is the living acoustical heritage - the sounds that these instruments produce for those living today - that interests us, and not their mere decorative flair as objets trouvés from aristocratic residences from our distant past. We wish to hear what these instruments have to say and we wish to learn from them about the manner of performance of their musical heritage from the Renaissance, the Baroque and the Classical Periods.

Some of the more salient names of the luthiers represented:

Violins, violas, violoncellos, double basses by

Nicolò Amati, Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Carlo Testore, Gianbattista Grancino, Simone Cimapane, Matthias Albanus, Aegidius and Sebastian Kloz, Leopold Widhalm, Nikolas Leidolff, Johann Christoph Leidolff, Matthias Thir, Johann Schorn, Johannes Georg Thir, Anton Posch, Johann Joseph Stadlmann, Michael Ignaz Stadlmann, Sebastian Dallinger, William Smith, Jan Udalricus Eberle...

Violas da gamba by

Ventura Linarolo, Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Henry Jaye, Edward Lewis, William Turner, Jakob Stainer, Joachim Tielke, Michael Albanus, Claude Boivin, Johann Georg Seelos, Leonhardt Maussiell, Andreas Jaiss, Johann Andreas Kämbl, Joan Boller Bugger...

Violas d'amore by

Violas d'amore by Jean Baptiste Deshayes Salomon, Mathias Fichtl, Johann Christoph Leidolff, Joann Joseph Hentschl, Thomas Andreas Hulintzky...

The collection of historical bows:

Approximately 30 bows from 1680 to 1850 by a number of bowmakers, including Tourte père, Adam, Edward Dodd, John Dodd, Thomas Smith and many others.

There will be ample opportunity to hear and perhaps play the instruments during the exhibiition.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/festesdethalie/ProjetRambouillet.html
 

Course in performance practice and chamber music of the Baroque
Thoiry, France, 17 - 25 April, 2004:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/festesdethalie/academi4.html

Check the web site:
orpheon.org
for more information

Please, send on to your friends, who may not wish to miss this event!

http://www.mdw.ac.at/I105/orpheon/Seiten/exhibition/EU-Project.pdf

About the musical activities of Orpheon:

http://www.mdw.ac.at/I105/orpheon/Seiten/Documents/consort.htm

http://www.mdw.ac.at/I105/orpheon/Seiten/Documents/Orchestra.htm
 

Seminar/concerts for festivals, universities, conservatories:

http://www.mdw.ac.at/I105/orpheon/Seiten/Documents/bach.htm

http://www.mdw.ac.at/I105/orpheon/Seiten/Documents/MaraisSeminar.htm

http://www.mdw.ac.at/I105/orpheon/Seiten/Documents/MaraisProgram.htm