Oslo Circles‘ album Bizarrie! features captivating, surprising, slightly crazy (or completely insane?) Baroque music from the 17th century. After the pandemic, we were ready for a large dose of joie de vivre and a touch of madness, and tonight’s music describes dogs, cats, chickens, a fencing school (with real sabres!), Turkish janissaries, the ballet of philosophers and madness, to name but a few.

The music was written by a rather colourful cast of characters: Get to know the Italian in Dresden – Carlo Farina; the whimsical Neapolitan in London – Nicola Matteis, Vienna’s superstar and “Hofcompositeur” Johann Joseph Fux, the early violin virtuosos Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and Marco Uccellini, the composition pioneer Giovanni Battista Vitali and the Neapolitan lutenist Andrea Falconieri.

Oslo Circles:
Astrid Kirschner, baroque violin
Renata Kubala, baroque violin
Mari Giske, baroque viola
Mime Brinkmann, baroque cello
Einar Schøyen, violone
Caroline Eidsten Dahl, recorder
Karl Nyhlin, theorbo, baroque guitar
Thomas C. Boysen, theorbo, baroque guitar
Mariangiola Martello, harpsichord
Jonas Bonde, percussion