Baroque Music Festival Kicks Off Next Week

Featuring a slew of top-notch national and international musicians, the 10th International Baroque Musical Festival kicks off Oct. 27 and will run through Nov. 7.

Most concerts will take place in the southwestern Central Valley town of Santa Ana, though a few extension concerts will be held in San José, Cartago to the east and Sarapiquí in the north.

The event is organized by Santa Ana’s Municipal School of Integrated Arts (EMAI), whose youth orchestra will kick off the festival’s inaugural concert at Santa Ana’s ParochialChurch, followed by the school’s adult orchestra and choir.

Among the festival’s international guests are Italy-based Tico violist Rodney Prada and Venezuela’s Camino y Voces, the official choir of the Caracas Cathedral. The host of national artists performing in the festival includes the EMAI orchestras, Grupo Ganassi and the National University Guitar Orchestra.

Baroque music is a form of European classical music in widespread use from about 1600 to 1750. It is known for different voices and instruments echoing each other in various pitches, and includes composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel.

Admission to all concerts is free. For a schedule, see the Calendar on pages W6 and W7 or go to xfimb09.blogspot.com.

–Tico Times