Following the tremendous success of the Illyria Consort's first disc (Carbonelli Violin Sonatas 1-6), we are delighted to announce that Bojan and the Illyria Consort have now recorded their second disc together: the world premiere recording of Giovanni Giornovich's three London Violin Concertos.
This new recording will be available on the 1st of March, 2019. In the meantime, here are some photos from the sessions.
Click here to see a video about this announcement.
The Illyria Consort's debut recording, Carbonelli sonate da camera Vol. 1-6, has been announced as one of the ten winners of Presto Classical's "Recordings of the Year". See the full article here.
Back in May, Bojan wrote an article about the value of choosing a career in early music. It's available to read online: click here to see the full article.
The reviews are in for our Carbonelli recording!
“Hats off then to Čičić and his Illyria Consort for choosing the first six of Carbonelli’s sonatas for their debut recording, because not only is half their programme’s music previously unrecorded, but it’s all genuinely wonderful stuff... fluid perfection... bravo to the whole.”
“[Gives] Cicic and his ensemble every opportunity to shine … the playing [is] noteworthy. Splendid sound.”
“On so many levels, this is a must-have CD. Fascinating music by a little-known composer, played with outstanding musical conviction by four excellent musicians.”
“These performances are eloquent, engaging and really nicely ornamented. It’s one of my favourite discoveries this week.”
“Taut and elegant … Čičić makes even the high-wire showy stuff sing with a lyricism that is shapely, aerated and totally unforced.”
“The music has a unique appeal – lively, restless, catchy and extremely well written. The long-forgotten Carbonelli is a major find by a boutique label, Delphian, a Scottish firm that rarely issues a dud disc.”
“It’s testament to Čičić’s artistry that you’re never aware of the difficulties being surmounted – fistfuls of the most awkwardly-written chords are dispatched with immaculate intonation and voicing, whilst the contrapuntal sections in the elaborate fugues have a clarity to rival the finest keyboard-player. I’d wager a tidy sum that I won’t be the only one to come away from this beautiful disc itching to hear more from both composer and performers.”
“At a time when major labels are rarely bold, Paul Baxter’s Delphian consistently releases recordings that surprise, inform and delight … this sparkling recording is a showcase for Croatian violinist Bojan Cicic, whose career has included work with Frans Brüggen, Trevor Pinnock and Richard Egarr, but whose championing of Carbonelli is the real story here.”
“Performances abound in real vitality, rhythmic verve and dramatic engagement, and Carbonelli’s genius is allowed to shine in all its exuberance. A beautifully recorded disc worthy of serious investigation.”
23 June 2017 will be the release date of our first CD with Delphian Records. You can hear us performing Carbonelli live on 20 July at Music at Paxton Festival, Paxton House, and on 24 September at Roman River Music Festival, Colchester.
Sonata No. 5 just visible on the music stand.
The last weekend in June took the Illyria Consort to a church in East Woodhay to record our first disc, a collection of violin sonatas by the unjustly neglected 18th-century composer Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli. He was a wine merchant in London at one time, as well as the leader of the orchestra at London's Theatre Drury Lane.
The Illyria Consort is comprised of Susanne Heinrich (viola da gamba), David Miller (theorbo, archlute, and baroque guitar), Steven Devine (harpsichord and organ), and Bojan Cicic (violin).
The disc is expected to be released in early summer of 2017. We are grateful to everyone who helped make this project possible, particularly those who gave so generously during our JustGiving fundraiser a few months ago. We are still looking for opportunities to raise the last £2,500 through private concerts; please get in touch if you, or anyone you know, would like to host a private recital and talk by Bojan in their homes or a historic venue.
Listen again here (for a limited time) to the Academy of Ancient Music's concert "Angels and Saints" from Cambridge, directed by Bojan Cicic on 23 November this year: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06pxdzf
From the Radio 3 website:
Bojan Cicic directs the Academy of Ancient Music in an astonishing programme of concertos and sonatas inspired by visions of spiritual beings and the promise of the after-life.
Recorded at West Road Concert Hall
Presented by Martin Handley
Vivaldi: Concerto in F major "per la Solennitá di S Lorenzo"
Vejvanovsky: Sonatas "Sancti Spiritus" and "Paschalis"
Vivaldi: Sonata in E flat major "Sancto Sepolcro"
Leclair: Violin Concerto in D major
Interval - Interval music from disc
Part 2:
Manfredini: Concerti "Pastorale per il Santissimo Natale"
Biber: Passacaglia in G minor for unaccompanied violin "The Guardian Angel"
Vivaldi: Concerto in E major "Il Riposo per il S Natale"
Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in D major "S Lingua di S Antonio di Padova"
As one of the rising stars of the world of period performance, Bojan Cicic currently leads the second violin section of the AAM, and is directing several programmes with them this season. Here he directs Baroque music written for special feast days in the Christian calendar.
This autumn, Bojan will be directing the Academy of Ancient Music in an astonishing programme of music from composers inspired by the spiritual and the promise of the afterlife. With concerts in Cambridge (18 November), Dorchester (25 November), and Truro (26 November), the centrepiece will be the performance at Milton Court (Barbican) in London, on 20 November (click here to be taken to the Barbican website).
Bojan has been directing the Academy of Ancient Music this week in a Bach-family programme. Click here to read the review.
Bojan has three new discs out this month: a recording of the complete Brandenburg Concertos with Florilegium, in which he plays violin, viola, and violino piccolo. He also plays "Summer" on the European Union Baroque Orchestra's new disc of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
Florilegium in sessions for Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, London.
In addition, he is featured on a live recording of a BBC Chamber Prom from July this year, playing the CPE Bach Sonata for Two Violins ("Sanguineus & Melancholicus") with Rachel Podger. The disc is exclusively available with the December issue of the BBC Music magazine.
