Ensemble Cappella Mediterranea

Chouchane Siranossian, baroque violin

Balázs Máté, baroque cello

Leonardo García Alarcón, organ, harpsichord and artistic director

In the first half of the 17^th century, European composers were using instrumental music to experiment with sound and expression. They took inspiration from vocal rhetoric to create a new instrumental language that was characterised by increased virtuosity, invention, improvisation and a quest for unfamiliar and surprising sounds. The violin was the ideal instrument for this new repertoire, which sparked the creativity of musicians like Farina, Schmelzer, Biber, Pisendel and Bach. Their works emerged from the early baroque style of “stylus phantasticus”, breaking free from convention and custom to explore new expressive possibilities.

Chouchane Siranossian, Balázs Maté and Leonardo García Alarcón invite us to discover this groundbreaking repertoire.

Georg Muffat (1653–1704)   

Sonate en Ré Majeur 

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)    

BWV 1024

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)    

Fugue g minor, BWV 1026

Carlo Farina (c. 1600–1639)    

La Farina

Andreas Anton Schmelzer (1653–1701)  

Victori der Christen 

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)       

BWV 1023, e minor

Johann GottfriedWalther  (1684–1748)    

Passacaille, 6ème sonate 

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)       

BWV 1021, g major 

Cappella Mediterranea

Cappella Mediterranea was founded in 2005 by the Swiss-Argentinian conductor Leonardo García-Alarcón, originally to serve Latin Baroque music. Ten years on, its repertoire has diversified with madrigal, polyphonic motet and opera. In just a few years, the ensemble has made a name for itself with the rediscovery of previously unpublished works such as Michelangelo Falvetti’s “Il Diluvio universal” and “Nabucco”, as well as with new versions of works from the repertoire such as Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” and Bach’s Mass in B minor.

At the Opéra de Dijon between 2018 and 2020, the ensemble has produced a series of rediscoveries of works such as Draghi’s “El Prometeo”, Sacrati’s “La Finta pazza” and Rossi’s “Il Palazzo incantato”. The ensemble takes part in the triumph of Rameau’s “Indes Galantes” at the Opéra Bastille, recognized as the best production of 2019 by Forumopéra and the New York Times. In 2022, Cappella Mediterranea makes a name for itself with two successful opera productions: Lully’s “Atys” in Geneva and Versailles, staged by Angelin Preljocaj, and Monteverdi’s “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” staged by Ted Huffman at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. In 2024, the ensemble takes part in its first Mozart opera “Idomeneo” at Grand Théâtre de Genève, before an audacious rereading of Bach’s “St John Passion”, choreographed by Sasha Waltz, in Salzburg and Dijon.

Cappella Mediterranea’s discography includes over thirty critically acclaimed recordings. Recent releases include Monteverdi’s“L’Orfeo” (Alpha classic, 2021) and Sacrati’s “La Finta pazza” (Château de Versailles Spectacles, 2022). In 2024 “Amore Siciliano” (Alpha) is published - a program imagined from popular and classical Italian arias of the 17^th and 18^th centuries - and Philippe d’Orléans’ “La Jérusalem délivrée” (Château de Versailles Spectacles).

Leonardo García Alarcón

After studying piano in Argentina, Leonardo García Alarcón moved to Europe in 1997 and joined the Geneva Conservatoire in the class of harpsichordist Christiane Jaccottet. In 2005, he founded his own ensemble, Cappella Mediterranea, before taking over the direction of the Chœur de chambre de Namur in 2010. He quickly became a highly acclaimed conductor, thanks to his concert creations at Ambronay and his rediscoveries of little-known works by Sacrati, Cavalli, Draghi, Falvetti and D'India. He is sought after by the greatest musical and operatic institutions: Opéra de Paris, La Zarzuela de Madrid, Le Grand Théâtre de Genève, Staatsoper Berlin, etc. He is a regular guest with Les Violons du Roy in Canada, the Radio France orchestra and the Gulbenkian Orchestra. After his triumphant direction of Rameau’s “Indes Galantes” at the Opéra Bastille, he was named best conductor in Forum Opéra’s 2019 awards.

His most recent successful productions include Lullys’ “Atys” (2022), Monteverdi’s “The Coronation of Poppea” (2022), and Monteverdi program “The 7 Deadly Sins” at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Berlin Philharmonic in 2023, as well as new collaborations with choreographers: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for W. A. Mozart’s “Idomeneo” (2024) and Sasha Waltz for J. S. Bach’s “St John Passion” (2024).

In September 2022, a new chapter opens in his career with the premiere of oratorio “Pasión Argentina”, his first major contemporary composition. And since 2024 L. García Alarcón is director of La Cité Bleue, a 300-seat concert hall. L. García Alarcón is a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Chouchane Siranossian

The French violinist Chouchane Siranossian is one of the most engaging talents of her generation and has firmly established her reputation in historical performance as well as in modern music. Her deep knowledge of historical performance practices along with her exceptional virtuosity opens a new dimension for the interpretation of her vast repertoire. She studied with Tibor Varga, Pavel Vernikov, Zakhar Bron and Reinhard Goebel and is regularly invited as both soloist and concert master by numerous orchestras including Staatskapelle Dresden, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Concerto Köln, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Capella Augustina, Münchener Kammerorchester, etc. She is leader of Ensemble Esperanza Liechtenstein. Her recordings as soloist as well as chamber musician have been numerously rewarded. Thus, her first solo CD “Time Reflexion” received the “Diapason Découverte” and “L‘Ange et le Diable”, a duo-CD with conductor and harpsichordist Jos van Immerseel is rewarded with the International Classical Music Award in the category Baroque Instrumental.

Balázs Máté

Famous artist of the baroque cello, the violoncello piccolo and the bass violin Balázs Máté studied at the Béla Bartók Conservatory and the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. He followed post-graduate baroque cello studies at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague with Jaap Ter Linden and chamber music lessons with Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Mozarteum Salzburg. He founded in 1995 early music ensemble Aura Musicale and in 2002 (with L. Paulik, E. Rácz and É. Posvanecz) the quartetto Luigi Tomasini. Solo cellist in world famous baroque orchestras as Le Concert des Nations, Wiener Akademie, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Cappella Mediterranea, etc. His debut as a soloist at the Musikverein in Vienna was in October 2000, conducted by Christopher Hogwood. He was given the Liszt Award in 2010, the Hungarian state award for merits in the music life.

He is the cello tutor of the Austrian Baroque Academy and the European Union Baroque Orchestra. From 2010 to 2012 he was the baroque cello professor of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Academy of Music Leipzig. The highlight of his conducting activities so far was a celebrated scenic opera project with “Orontea” by A. Cesti.