Corelli Consort

The baroque ensemble Corelli Consort's first concert took place in June 1992 in the Church of Holy Ghost in Tallinn, on the initiative of the Estonian violinist Mail Sildos. The ensemble uses original historical instruments that date back to the 17th-18th century –

baroque violins, traverse flute, baroque cello, viola da gamba, harpsichord, baroque bassoon, archiliuto etc. CC represents a typical style of baroque music that can be compared with restoring the old paintings to their original glory.

Due to the name of the ensemble (after an Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli), and Estonian longlasting historical connections with Germany, the repertoire mostly includes the works of Italian and German baroque masters – A. Corelli, A. Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, G.Fr. Händel, G.Ph. Telemann, etc, but also Baltic-German and Russian composers of the era (J.V. Meder, J. Fischer, D. Bortnjanski etc). Special attention is given to Archangelo Corelli and his sonatas. The concert programmes are a combination of works by Corelli and solo cantatas, arias, sonatas, trio-sonatas and concerti grossi for various voices and instruments by other composers of the baroque period.

CC consists of Estonian professional musicians who have a special interest in performing baroque music in the above-mentioned style. They are participating in the work of Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, Corelli Baroque Orchestra, Capita Selecta Amsterdam, Estonian-Finnish and Helsinki Baroque Orchestras, Opus X Helsinki etc. Members of the ensemble have participated in lots of master-classes for different instruments and baroque music interpretation all over the world. Since 1999 some of us were lucky to participate in the master-classes of Lucy van Dael (Amsterdam), the outstanding baroque violinist and one of the initiators of the baroque music performance of that specific style. The number of musicians in CC fluctuates between 2 to 6, or sometimes more, depending on the programmes.

Due to their style of music, the programmes of CC suit particularly well in historical buildings – castles, manor houses, churches, nobility dwellings – music is played in old houses as it would have been played centuries ago. The concert series Estonian Manors, Music of the Knighthood, Beauty of History, Musical Salon in Toompea, Romantic Manors etc, introducing Estonian marvellous pearls of arhitecture and history together with baroque music have been warmly received by the audience. One of the main goals of these concert series is to create historical atmosphere in historical houses by the means of music.