VE – Il Canto Delle Sirene – Villanelle E Canzoni ‘600 & ‘700
April 04 07:00pm – Heliconian Hall – Toronto
Villanella, is a form of light Italian secular vocal music which originated in Italy just before the middle of the 16th century. It first appeared in Naples, and influenced the later canzonetta, and from there also influenced the madrigal.
The subject matter is generally rustic, comic, and often satirical; frequently the mannerisms of art music, such as the madrigal, are a subject of parody. The villanelle became one of the most popular forms of song in Italy around mid-century.
Francesco Pellegrino – Voice, chitarra battente
Lucas Harris – Lute, Theorbo
Jonathan Stuchbery – Lute, Theorbo
Felix Deak – Gamba
Tickets available here:
https://bemusednetwork.com/events/detail/1008
2023 / 2024 Season
Hello, friends of Vesuvius Ensemble!
We’re excited to announce a full season of concerts for 2023/24
16 October 2023
La voce di Napoli
An homage to Sergio Bruni
Tickets available here – https://bemusednetwork.com/events/detail/1006
5 January 2024
Vesuvius Ensemble Presents: Elisa Citterio
Viaggio a Napoli
Heliconian Hall – 7:00 PM
Tickets available here – https://bemusednetwork.com/events/detail/1007
4 April 2024
Il canto delle sirene
Villanelle e canzoni
‘600 & ‘700
Tickets available here – https://bemusednetwork.com/events/detail/1008
6 June 2024
Carosone ‘900
Tribute to Renato Carosone
Tickets available here – https://bemusednetwork.com/events/detail/1009
All concerts at Heliconian Hall 35 Hazelton avenue – Toronto
THE MUSICIANS
PHOTOS BY KAREN E REEVES
Italian tenor, Francesco Pellegrino, began his career during his early childhood. By the age of ten, he was a celebrated singer of traditional and classical Neapolitan music throughout Italy and Europe and recorded his first album of classical Neapolitan songs, circulated on radio stations throughout Italy.
In 1994 Francesco Pellegrino completed his Diploma in Voice Performance with a minor in piano, from the Benevento Conservatory of Music. His performance activities during that time included opera, oratorio, concert songs and traditional Neapolitan music. During his undergraduate, his extraordinary voice caught the attention of legendary tenor, Carlo Bergonzi. Maestro Bergonzi awarded Mr. Pellegrino with The International Arturo Toscanini Foundation Scholarship, inviting him to continue his studies with him at his academy of music, L’Accademia di Canto Verdiano di Busseto, in Parma, Italy and at L’Accademia Chigiana di Musica in Siena, Italy.
Lucas Harris began his musical life as a jazz guitarist in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. After graduating summa cum laude from Pomona College, he studied for a year in Milan, Italy as one of the first Marco Fodella Foundation scholars and then at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. Lucas now keeps a busy schedule as a continuo player for dozens of Baroque ensembles across North America. He is the regular lutenist with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and is based in Toronto since 2004. Lucas teaches each summer at Oberlin Conservatory’s Baroque Performance Institute and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, and has also taught for Amherst Early Music, the International Baroque Institute at Longy, and the New York Continuo Collective. He is a founder of the Toronto Continuo Collective, a weekly class and performing ‘pluck band’ dedicated to learning the art of seventeenth-century accompaniment. Some recent projects included a lute concerto program for CBC radio’s Young Artist Series, a solo recital for the Minnesota Guitar Society, a debut solo CD, as well as duo recitals and a recording with the Chinese pipa virtuoso Wen Zhao. Lucas was music director for a production of Cavalli’s La Calisto for the Opera Program at Ohio State University, and has also been invited as guest director with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver. He was praised for his work with Les voix humaines in Montréal: “The revelation of the concert was the Torontonian lutenist Lucas Harris, who weaved a poetic thread through his infinitely subtle interventions. The sweetness and patience of his playing . . . was astonishing.” (Le Devoir)