New Discoveries: The extraordinary manuscripts of Orazio Albani da Urbino

Hailed as the “greatest living lutenist” (Stereophile), Paul O’Dette has amassed innumerable accolades and honors and a reputation as a virtuoso with singular technical skill matched by his ebullient charisma. While a regular presence on the BEMF Concert and Opera stages as our Artistic Co-Director, he makes his first solo appearance on BEMF’s annual concert series in over 26 years. Join him for a journey through a collection of recently discovered manuscripts copied out in the 1590s by Orazio Albani da Urbino (1576–1653), a nobleman who studied the lute in Rome as a child prodigy. The composers represented are among the most acclaimed lutenists of the time, whose groundbreaking music was studied and performed throughout Europe. The Albani manuscripts include a large number of previously unknown pieces by Lorenzino Tracetti and the “Knight of the Lute”, Vincenzo Pinti: outstanding works which run the gamut from soulful fantasias to flamboyant toccatas to kaleidoscopic variations on the Folia and Romanesca, containing passages that may have inspired Monteverdi. This collection represents one of the most important musical discoveries of the past thirty years.