Orpheus’ Treasure Trove – Grand Duel with gamba and cello

Since its formation in 2015, Orpheus Baroque has grown into an important part of the capital city’s music offering, serving as a meeting place for orchestra members and some of Sweden’s foremost freelance Baroque musicians. During the vignette Orpheus Treasure Trove, we hear the ensemble in a smaller format for chamber music. 

The viola da gamba could loosely be considered the predecessor to the cello; it is approximately the same size, but has frets on the neck (like a guitar) and six strings (sometimes seven) instead of four, like the cello. “Gamba” means legs – it is situated between the legs, like the cello.

At this concert, the viola da gamba and cello come together. Greats of the gamba repertoire include the seventeenth-century French masters Marin Marais and Jean de Saint-Colombe (who may be familiar from the novel and film Tous Les Matins du Monde), while composers from the next century wrote music for cello, such as Jean-Baptiste Barrière and Luigi Boccherini. 

Critically acclaimed ensemble Orpheus Baroque regularly works with prominent guests from the international Baroque music scene. The artistic directors are the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic’s solo cellist, Johannes Rostamo, as well as concertmaster and Baroque violinist Elin Gabrielsson, a member, among other ensembles, of Italian Europa Galante.