Eike will appear in no fewer than nine concerts, in themselves covering an extensive repertoire. 22 May sees the first of three concerts devoted to Venetian music, “St Mark’s: Between Church and Square”, an exploration of the spectacular repertoire from the time of Giovanni Gabrieli. The Baroque Soloists and Alta Punta are directed by Eike and Ole Kristian Andersen.

The following day the audience enters “The Doge’s Palace” for a programme centred around Monteverdi’s 8th Book of madrigals, the Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi. Artists again include Eike and the Baroque Soloists, this time joined by the British group I Fagiolini under their director Robert Hollingworth. The final Venetian evening on 29 May is devoted to Vivaldi, and includes excerpts from his operas sung by mezzo Tuva Semmingsen and Maria Cristina Kiehr in addition to instrumental works performed by Eike and the Baroque Soloists.

Bjarte Eike’s other major undertaking is three concerts devoted to the “Mystery” Sonatas of Biber. They are scheduled for 1, 2 and 3 June, when the sonatas will be interspersed with Bible readings by the actor Bjørn Sundquist. More esoteric is “Siwan” on 27 May, an experimental programme based on music from the Al-Andalus tradition, reworked by a group of musicians including Eike and jazz performer Jon Balke.

Two late night concerts will find Eike letting his hair down. The first, on 24 May is a “Baroque Jam Session”, a programme of free improvisation founded on early baroque Italian instrumental works, while on 30 May he will pay a visit to 17th- and 18th-century English alehouses and taverns in the company of a group of instrumentalists and singers. The only early music concert not to feature Eike comes on 23 May with the intriguingly original title “If I had been born in 1608, I would be dead now”.

It features soprano Elisabeth Holmertz and lutenist Fredrik Bock performing vocal works and lute solos by Stefano Landi, Kapsberger, Monteverdi, Merula and Barbara Strozzi, in addition to several contemporary pieces.

For full details see:
www.fib.no