REVIEWS
"Delightfully inventive." — The Strad
"Apparently small music can be this big. You can’t get enough of it.” — Die Welt (Germany)
BIOGRAPHY
The Valencia Baryton Project is comprised of musicians from the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía opera house in Valencia and the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier. They founded the ensemble with the vision of performing the nearly 170 works by Joseph Haydn written for the baryton which is a cross between a viola da gamba and a lirone. At the heart of the project, is the traditional baryton trio – baryton, viola and cello – for which Haydn wrote 123 works of outstanding beauty during his time as court composer for Prince Esterhazy of Austria.
Led by Matthew Baker, one of only a handful baryton performers in the world, the Valencia Baryton Project have inspired audiences in sold-out concerts and festivals throughout the North, Central, South America and Europe. Their work with the baryton, considered to have been the pinnacle of aristocratic instruments of the classical era, has been described as "delightfully inventive” (The Strad) and "you can’t get enough of it" (Die Welt).
Beyond performing and recording the works of Haydn and his contemporaries, the Valencia Baryton Project is committed to the creation of new compositions for this forgotten instrument. They have collaborated with Canadian, British, Spanish and Argentinian composers Steve Zink, Ivan Moody, John Pickup, José Zárate and Julian Calarco to expand the repertoire and incorporate this novel soundscape to modern composition.
www.valenciabaryton.com