Describing Bach’s students as ‘jewels that brightly burn’, Telemann championed Bach’s skill in arranging music to inspire a new generation of musicians as they performed ‘under the orange tree’ in Leipzig. This programme tells the story of Bach’s students as they became ‘jewels’ and includes arrangements of his joyous instrumental music alongside Telemann’s stunning ‘Paris’ quartets and suites by Pisendel.

In a world that needs kindness, this programme highlights friendships and a shared love of music between 18th Century musicians, composers, concert organisers, and listeners. Pairing compositions together, we present music that was created, supported, or made possible by acts of kindness and friendship. With music by Bach, Vivaldi, Anna Amalia, Telemann, and the mysterious Mrs Philarmonica, we reveal remarkable friendships through letters and anecdotal accounts.

Handel was an art-lover and amassed a stunning collection that he hung in his London home where musicians rehearsed for upcoming operas. This collaboration between countertenor Alexander Chance and Ensemble Augelletti includes arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda alongside instrumental chamber music by Handel, Geminiani, and Castrucci that was rehearsed in his dining room. The event can be prefaced with a pre-concert talk on Handel’s art collection.

‘I seemed to breathe another kind of air, to be living in another element’ wrote a teenager as they looked upon the golden platform of Paris’s first public, non-subscription concert series, the Concert Spirituel. In this concert Ensemble Augelletti perform glittering instrumental chamber music by Vivaldi, Corelli, Telemann, and Leclair which inspired the young listener to exclaim ‘the sound practically lifted me out of my seat! I was overcome with giddiness...I was unable to imagine I could reach this height of pleasure [through] the music’s charms.’

In this informal performance, members of Ensemble Augelletti share some of the 17th and 18th century folk tunes and country dances that filled taverns, coffee houses, and social spaces of Georgian towns. Join us with a drink to share 18th century settings of folk tunes notated by Geminiani and Barsanti, hear domestic arrangements of theatre tunes by Purcell and Handel, and country dance tunes popularised by 18th century balls and assemblies.

Anna Amalia, Princess of Prussia (1723-1787), was an extraordinary woman who made an enormous contribution to cultural life in 18th Century Berlin. Anna Amalia’s careful curation of 625 scores in an astonishing music library paint the musical portrait of a sophisticated and stylish musician, fascinated with the workings of musical line and texture. This programme highlights music from her personal library and includes music by Anna Amalia, JS Bach, Handel, and CPE Bach.