Great Organ Music at Yale: Francesco Cera

Event time: 
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - 4:00pm
Event description: 

 

Great Organ Music at Yale 2012-2013

Francesco Cera

Music of Bach, Merula, Trabaci, and Frescobaldi

SEPTEMBER 26 WEDNESDAY | 8 PM

MARQUAND CHAPEL

free; no tickets required. Plenty of free parking

 

 

 
Francesco Cera was born in Bologna, Italy, where he studied organ and harpsichord, specializing in early repertoire under Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini and later with Gustav Leonhardt at the Amsterdam Conservatory.
 
Regarded as one of Italy’s leading early music specialists, Francesco Cera has performed as a soloist and leader of Ensemble Arte Musica at important international festivals such as Festival Resonanzen in Vienna, the Festival of Flanders, Musica e Poesia in San Maurizio in Milan, Festival de Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache, Les Gouts Reunis in Lausanne, Musica Transalpina in London, Arte Organica en Castilla y Leon, and on historical organs all over Europe
 
Since 2006 he has regularly been invited to give masterclasses and recitals in the United States on early Ialian organ repertoire (Eastman School of Music in Rochester, Oberlin Conservatory, Wellesley College, Cornell University, Illinois University, Arizona State University, Omaha St.Cecilia Cathedral, Chicago Holy Name Cathedral). An interview with him was broadcast by Michael Barone on the radio program Pipe Dreams.
 
In Europe, he has held masterclasses and workshops at the Royal Academy of Music London, Académie d’Orgue de Fribourg, Organ Academy in Smarano, Accademia di Musica Italiana per Organo, Piccola Accademia in Montisi. Since 2001 he has been living in Rome where he is appointed Honorary Inspector of Early Organs for Rome and the Lazio region.
 
Francesco Cera applies his distinctive interpretative approach not only to early keyboard instruments, but also to Baroque vocal and instrumental music. From 1991 to 1994 he was a member of the ensemble Il Giardino Armonico, and since 1996 he has directed the Ensemble Arte Musica, with whom he performs a vocal Italian repertoire spanning the period from Gesualdo’s madrigals to eighteenth century cantatas.
 
Cera’s recordings of harpsichord and organ works from seventeenth century Italian composers (Rossi, Merula, Storace and Valente) on the Tactus label, performed on historical Italian organs, have been praised by some of the most important music magazines such as Goldberg, Amadeus, Répertoire and Diapason. The French label Tempéraments issued the anthology “Rome Baroque” with Cera’s performance of organ music by Frescobaldi and Pasquini on the Guglielmi 1612 organ in the church of S. Maria in Vallicella in Rome. He has recorded three CDs of Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonatas on both harpsichord and fortepiano (a copy of Cristofori), and taken part in the performance of all the sonatas at the Festival in Gent. Label ARTS has recently issued his recordings of Bach’s French Suites and four Harpsichord Concertos (with I Barocchisti conducted by Diego Fasolis).