Vivaldi Rocks: Gut, Strings and Metal

Nicknamed the Red Priest, Vivaldi was director of music at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice – an orphanage in which the children were trained as musicians. He staged extraordinarily emotive concerts with virtuosic solos that were a major tourist attraction and had their audiences shouting, clapping and stamping their feet. In fact, according to music historian Richard Taruskin, the best way to understand the excitement of an original Vivaldi performance is to attend a rock concert.

O/MOD?RNT – Swedish for ‘Un/Modern’ – has gone one better. Devised by the British violinist Hugo Ticciati, now resident in Sweden, O/MODERNT reinvents the past by exploring relationships between old and new. This concert, the brainchild of Bram van Sambeek, fuses Vivaldi with the rock music of today, including Metallica, Muse and Dream Theater.

Hard to imagine? Then come and experience Vivaldi’s concertos with the vibe of a Hammond organ, variations of La Folia (‘musical madness’) rocking Van Halen style improvised cadenzas, Metallica guitar solos played on amplified bassoon and much more!