Jordi Savall Returns With Two Ensembles On A National Tour

Clear the diary – the legendary Grammy Award-winning early music expert Jordi Savall and two of his favourite ensembles, Hespèrion XXI and Tembembe Ensamble Continuo, will tour Australia early next year with a rare program of early and contemporary Latin music.

A multi-instrumentalist, virtuoso, conductor, scholar, teacher and record label director, Jordi Savall’s career has spanned five decades producing 230 discs, with a focus on medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music but which crosses time and genre, all the while keeping Savall’s Catalan roots at the heart of his music.

The program, FOLÍAS ANTIGUAS & CRIOLLAS, from the Ancient World to the New World, spans music from the late Renaissance to popular music that survives today, will be performed at the Perth International Arts Festival, in Melbourne, Sydney and at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Savall will also perform different programs with smaller ensembles at Perth International Arts Festival and in Melbourne Recital Centre.

Last here in 2014 with the Helpmann Award-winning The Jerusalem Project, the 2018, tour features two ensembles from the old world and the new. Savall returns with some of the principal members of Hespèrion XXI, an international early music ensemble formed in Basel, Switzerland in 1974; the Grammy-winning harpist Andrew Lawrence-King (UK) and the renowned guitar player Xavier Diaz-Latorre (SPN). Also collaborating for this program are Mexico’s Tembembe Ensamble Continuo who are dedicated to exploring and recreating the musical connections between the Hispanic Baroque period and traditional music from Mexico and Latin America.
In 2008, Savall was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace for outstanding musical commitment to intercultural dialogue.

Jordi Savall says “These old and new Creole folias transport us back in time. These musical forms evolved after the “discovery” of the Americas. Gold wasn’t the only thing that Spain took from the Americas – it also brought the lively dance rhythms of Indigenous, African and Creole music back to Europe. With new variations, played on early instruments with passion and energy – we create a world of emotion and beauty that we can’t wait to share with Australia this summer.”

Tickets: From $49
Bookingd: sydneyoperahouse.com
Pre-sale: Register by midnight Monday 18 September
GP on-sale: 9am, Monday 25 September