Vivaldi spent much of his career working at the Pietà, the Venetian orphanage that trained girls as musicians and maintained a renowned choir and orchestra in its chapel. For this concert we have assembled a sequence of his music for Vespers of the Virgin Mary, consisting of a sequence of psalms, the hymn Salve Regina, and the powerful G minor setting of the Magnificat RV610.

Some of the pieces, including the introductory prayer ‘Domine ad adjuvandum’ RV593, are lavishly scored for two choirs, two orchestras and two organs, while his great setting of the Nisi Dominus RV608 is a showpiece for a virtuoso alto singer, accompanied just by strings and continuo. The Salve Regina in C minor RV616, also for alto solo, is richly scored for two recorders, flute and double string orchestra. The concert includes a setting of the psalm Dixit Dominus for female voices and strings by Nicola Porpora, who worked for the Pietà and another Venetian orphanage in the 1740s.

The countertenor Timothy Travers-Brown has been singing at the Festival for many years, and most recently delighted audiences with his contribution to our Bach concert in May 2011. He has sung with many of the world’s leading early music ensembles, and has appeared in the complete series of Bach cantatas recorded by Masaaki Susuki and the Bach Collegium Japan; on that occasion The Gramophone praised his ‘attractive and polished warmth’.