Orlando, a melancholic portrait

The French ensemble La Tempête, debuts at the Muziekgebouw with a concert dedicated to one composer: Orlando di Lasso. The versatility of this 16th-century composer and the many adventures he experienced inspired artistic director Simon-Pierre Bestion to a remarkable sound monograph. Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando also plays an important role in it. With effortless ease, the ensemble combines electric guitars with centuries-old cornets, imparting the music with maximum richness.

La Tempête isn’t keen on conventions. Artistic director Simon-Pierre Bestion readily incorporates modern instruments like the saxophone and electric guitar into his arrangements of Renaissance works. Staging and design are the finishing touches. While everything is new, it all serves the music, restoring its old glory. 

La Société Générale is the principal sponsor of La Tempête.
It also receives the support of the Bettencourt-Schueller Foundation, the French Ministry of Culture, the Centre National de la Musique (CNM), the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, the Corrèze county, the city of Brive-la-Gaillarde as well as the Adami and the Spedidam.

7 p.m. / Early Music lecture (Dutch spoken) by Saskia Törnqvist
The many faces of Orlando di Lasso
The Fleming Orlando di Lasso held positions in Mantua, Milan, and Rome, travelled through France and England, and eventually settled in Bavaria amidst the vibrant court life of Albrecht V. “I do not want to leave my house, my garden, and the other good things in Munich,” wrote Di Lasso, but this outward contentment belied an inner battle with ‘melancholia hypochondriaca’. This lecture explores, using musical examples, the composer’s contrasting sides: from deeply religious to scabrous, always returning to melancholy, the state of mind cultivated at many European courts.