By Peter Alexander

Evanne Browne, artistic director of the Baroque vocal ensemble Seicento, wants you to know that she is excited about their next concert. Very excited.

Seicento Baroque Ensemble with director Evanne Browne, center

“I was thrilled to get to put this together,” she says. “This is a joyous concert. It’s just magical!”

This magical concert will be presented Friday through Sunday with performances in Denver, Boulder and Longmont. And although the title, “Scarlatti, Father and Son,” might sound like a trendy Italian trattoria, it actually refers to an important musical family of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Alessandro Scarlatti spent most of his career at the court in Naples, where his brother Francesco was first violinist. His two children also pursued musical careers, Domenico primarily in service to the royal families of Spain and Portugal, and Francesco in London and Dublin.

Domenico Scarlatti

Almost anyone who has taken piano lessons as a child—or whose children have taken lessons—knows of Domenico Scarlatti, the titular son of the program. He famously wrote more then 500 one-movement keyboard sonatas that range from short, easy pieces in every teacher’s lesson book to challenging workouts that find their way into virtuoso recital programs.

Browne’s aim is to open up much more of the Scarlatti legacy than the well known sonatas—written for harpsichord but today played mostly on piano. Domenico wrote other works, from operas and cantatas to sacred motets and a 10-voice Stabat Mater that will end the concert. And his father Alessandro was one of Italy’s leading Baroque opera composers, dominating opera in Naples in the 1690s. He also wrote cantatas and other vocal works, and an almost unknown set of madrigals that will be on the program.

Read more at Boulder Weekly.

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Scarlatti, Father & Son
Seicento Baroque Ensemble, Evanne Browne, artistic director, with guest artists

7:30 p.m. Friday, March 11, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Denver
7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 12, First United Methodist Church, Boulder
3 p.m. Sunday, March 13, Stewart Auditorium, Longmont

Tickets