Gesualdo with
Oslo Philharmonic

Italian inspirations

Five singers from the Soloists' Choir join forces with the Oslo Philharmonic and conductor Klaus Mäkelä to perform music by Italian composer Carlo Gesualdo.

Countless composers have found inspiration in the Italian landscape and culture. Klaus Mäkelä conducts music by two of them who felt this inspiration, Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky, as well as Italian composers Pietro Locatelli and Carlo Gesualdo.

Carlo Gesualdo (ca. 1566–1613) was the most controversial composer of his time and used musical devices that weren’t widely used until the modern era such as dissonance and chromatism. Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) described Gesualdo as “one of the most personal and original musicians within my art form.” In 1960 he ‘re-composed’ three Gesualdo madrigals to mark the 400th anniversary of his birth (since then the year of his birth has changed) and its title was Momentum per Gesualdo. This work is played in conjunction with four of Gesualdo’s own motets.

The audience also get to experience Igor Stravinskij: Monumentum pro Gesualdo di Venosa ad CD annum, Pietro Locatelli: Fiolinkonsert nr. 12, op. 3 og Richard Strauss: Aus Italien.