Articles – Page 7 of 43 – Total Baroque Magazine

Summer festivals

Lully, Rameau and the Grand Siècle of Louis XIV

FRANCE

With more than twenty festivals taking place between June and October, France remains one of Europe’s great territories for early music. From the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel to the Alpine valleys, from great Romanesque abbeys to the gardens of the Vendée, and through remarkable sites in Auvergne and the west of the country, these festivals today bring together historically informed performance, exceptional heritage settings and new generations of artists.

by Total Baroque 28 May 2026

Pictures of the Week

Versailles, Göttingen, Greenwich, Beverley, Paris

From Versailles to Göttingen, from Greenwich to Paris, this week showcases early music experiences at the crossroads of disciplines, with the Concert de la Loge’s “Hip Baroque Choc” and the equestrian show “Chevauchée Baroque”, as well as performances and vocal interpretations of a dazzling European repertoire, from Purcell to Tomás Luis de Victoria, via Handel and the Italian circle of the Academia dell’Arcadia.

by Total Baroque 28 May 2026

Max Emanuel Cencic celebrates Senesino and Handel in Bayreuth

Video of the week

Max Emanuel Cencic celebrates Senesino and Handel in Bayreuth

In 2022, at the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival, Max Emanuel Cencic celebrated 40 years on stage with a programme of arias written by Handel for Senesino, one of the most celebrated castratos of the 18th century, alongside George Petrou and the ensemble Armonia Atenea.

by Total Baroque 28 May 2026

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Pygmalion Sheds Light on Bach’s St John Passion

Record of the month

Pygmalion & Raphaël Pichon

Pygmalion Sheds Light on Bach’s St John Passion

From the very first bars, the “St John Passion” reveals itself like an old master painting freshly revarnished under the brush of Raphaël Pichon and his ensemble Pygmalion: the lines become firmer, the contrasts sharper, the light begins to circulate, revealing unexpected gleams and rough edges.

by Julien Delhom 27 May 2026

Constellation: John Eliot Gardiner’s Second Act

Interview

Baroque Masters

Constellation: John Eliot Gardiner’s Second Act

John Eliot Gardiner has just completed a European tour with his new ensemble, Constellation, featuring a Bach trilogy: two cantatas and the Easter Oratorio. A year and a half after his departure from the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra (which he founded in 1964), he reflects on this new musical and human adventure. He will be performing at the Royal Chapel in Versailles on 11 and 12 June.

by Jean-Jacques Schaettel 21 May 2026

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Pictures of the Week

Tunis, Bruges, Reims, Venice, Valenciennes, Tokyo

From Bruges to Tokyo, via Tunis, Reims, Venice and Valenciennes, early music has brought places, eras and imaginations into dialogue. This week, Mary of Burgundy meets Dido and Aeneas, the great organ of Reims finds its voice again, Vivaldi resounds at the Fondazione Cini, while Lucile Richardot, Jean-Luc Ho and Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien take the Baroque on its travels.

by Total Baroque 21 May 2026

The Desandre-Dunford duo and the arias of the Grand Siècle in Maguelone

Video of the week

The Desandre-Dunford duo and the arias of the Grand Siècle in Maguelone

At the Maguelone Festival in Occitanie (France), Léa Desandre and Thomas Dunford bring to life, through their programme *Laissez durer la nuit*, a rich yet all too rarely performed repertoire of 17th-century French court music, in a virtuoso interplay between voice and theorbo.

by Total Baroque 21 May 2026

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Antonia Bembo, a Venetian at the Court of Louis XIV

History

Women Composers

Antonia Bembo, a Venetian at the Court of Louis XIV

Having fled to Paris, the Venetian composer and singer Antonia Bembo (1643–1715) led a truly romantic life, marked by a marital escape, royal patronage, and the creation of a musical language that blended Italian and French styles. A pupil of Cavalli, her only opera, “Ercole amante”, is on the bill at the Paris Opera from 28 May.

by Clara Gallière 20 May 2026

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Interview

“Ercole amante”: Antonia Bembo Rediscovered by Leonardo García-Alarcón

At the Paris Opera, from May 28 to June 14, Leonardo García-Alarcón conducts the rediscovery of “Ercole amante”, the only operatic work by composer Antonia Bembo (1640–1720). The Argentine conductor reveals the singular genius of an Italian composer with a remarkably dramatic life, who forged an original synthesis of the musical schools of her time.

by Gilles Charlassier 19 May 2026

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Interview

Sylvain Sartre and the Festival de Maguelone: Early Music in Southern France

Between Les Ombres, the festivals run by the association Muses en Dialogue, the European Young Baroque Orchestra and his teaching work, Sylvain Sartre embodies a generation of versatile musicians bringing early music to life in the South of France. He is the artistic director of the Festival de Maguelone, which runs from 4 to 12 June.

by Jean-Jacques Schaettel 18 May 2026

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Raphaël Pichon, Following in Bach’s Footsteps

Anniversary

Pygmalion Turns 20!

Raphaël Pichon, Following in Bach’s Footsteps

To mark Pygmalion’s 20th anniversary, Raphaël Pichon conceived a unique pilgrimage: to retrace on foot, along with his musicians, the journey that the young Johann Sebastian Bach undertook in 1705 from Arnstadt to Lübeck, in northern Germany, to further his musical education under the great Dietrich Buxtehude. After a first stage in Thuringia in 2024, which resonated widely through ARTE and France Musique, Raphaël Pichon and his ensemble are now setting off once again for Wolfenbüttel, Lüneburg, and Lübeck, in northern Germany.

by Benjamin François 14 May 2026

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Pictures of the Week

France, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands

From Paris to Hamburg, from Basel to Barcelona, early music is reinventing itself through hip-hop, Renaissance dance, great Baroque passions and Italian violin-making. A look back at some of the concerts and new creations that brought centuries, styles and European stages into dialogue this week.

by Total Baroque 14 May 2026