Consortium Carissimi: The Italian Baroque Meets the Irish Harp

Consortium Carissimi is excited to present a unique new program in collaboration with The Center for Irish Music. This program is truly a world-premiere: A Fusion of Italian Baroque and Irish Traditional Music.

The fusion of Italian Baroque and Irish traditional music is a vibrant cross-cultural dialogue rooted in 18th‑century Dublin, where Italian composers and musicians interacted with Irish folk traditions. By the early 18th century, Ireland was undergoing cultural change. Dublin was a major musical hub, second only to London. The old bardic order was fading, but European musical styles—especially the Italian Baroque—were gaining ground in Dublin and among the Protestant Ascendancy.

Neapolitan composer Tomasso Giordani moved to Dublin in 1763 as musical director, and Francesco Geminiani lived and died there.  Composers like Corelli, Vivaldi, and Geminiani, and their students and colleagues, were admired for their ornamentation, counterpoint, and expressive melodies.  These composers, whose music will be featured, were influenced by Irish tunes, and Irish musicians in turn absorbed their Italian Baroque styles.

Turlough O’Carolan (1670–1738), whose music will also be featured, stands as one of the last great figures of the Gaelic harp tradition.  His music is notable for blending native Irish folk and bardic elements with Italian Baroque influences that were popular among Ireland’s gentry at the time.  O’Carolan’s patrons, including the MacDermott Roe family, exposed him to these styles, and he absorbed them into his own compositions.

Tickets and more information are available through our website.