Leila Clarke-Carr, violin (IRL), Yonit Kosovske, harpsichord (USA/IRL)

Music is as much a vehicle to mark joy and celebration as it is born from troubled times of political and religious conflict, illness, or personal loss. This certainly holds true for much of the 17th century—a time of tumult and upheaval, as wars disturbed most corners of the sprawling Habsburg empire, and as the plague caused sickness and death amongst many thousands of lives all across Europe. Despite frequent instability and challenging times, an incredible flourishing of music and art emerged from courts, chapels, and convents of Europe. This matinee concert features sonatas, toccatas, laments, passacaglias, and chaconnes composed during this period, in spite of (or perhaps because of) these troubled times. The programme includes works by Isabella Leonarda, Antonio Bertali, Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Dario Castello, Johann Jakob Froberger and Matthias Weckmann.