ZSOMBOR TÓTH-VAJNA & THE SOLOISTS OF THE HARMONIA CAELESTIS BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

5 April 2025, 11.00-13.00

Old Academy of Music, Chamber Hall

Liszt Museum Morning Concert

ZSOMBOR TÓTH-VAJNA & THE SOLOISTS OF THE HARMONIA CAELESTIS BAROQUE ORCHESTRA Presented by Liszt Academy

Purcell and the Harmonia Sacra

Purcell: Thou wakeful shepherd (A Morning Hymn)

Purcell: The earth trembled (On our Saviour’s Passion)

Humphrey: Lord, I have sinned

Purcell: Great God and just (A Penitential Hymn)

Purcell: How long, great God (The Aspiration)

Purcell: We sing to him whose wisdom form’d the ear

Purcell: How have I stray’d, my God

Blow: Peaceful is he, and most secure

Purcell: Let the night perish (Job’s Curse)

Purcell: Sleep Adam, sleep and take thy rest

Purcell: Now that the sun hath veiled his light (An Evening Hymn on a Ground)

Gabriella Ács (soprano), Dalma Krajnyák (mezzo-soprano), Ágnes Kállay (cello), Gábor Tokodi (lute), Zsombor Tóth-Vajna (harpsichord)

In 1660, the reign of Cromwell and the Puritans had ended, and the English Restoration began. With Charles II’s accession to the throne, culture - and music in particular - began to prosper again. The compositions of this period continue the earlier English tradition but incorporate considerable French and Italian influences. John Blow and his pupil Henry Purcell, as organists of Westminster Abbey, introduced a new musical language in both vocal and instrumental sacred music. The concert will feature a selection from the Harmonia Sacra collection, offering an insight into the everyday musical lives of 17th-century Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal.