Here is our last non-update, directly from Venice! Thank you very much for your support donating and sharing our campaign!

*This campaign will close on Friday September 11, help us reach our goal!*

Dear supporters,

We've reached the last week of our project, and with that our crowdfunding campaign is also coming to an end. We truly hope you have enjoyed these past 5 'non-concerts', and we can't wait to share the very last one with you next Friday!

As we have not quite reached our campaign goal yet, if you think you have a friend, neighbor, colleague or relative who would like to support the project, we would appreciate it very much if you would share this campaign link with them: https://www.voordekunst.nl/projecten/10773-ceci-nest-pas-un-concert Our campaign will close on September 11, so we have a little less than a week to reach our goal!

Before we say 'tot-ziens', we would like to invite you to stay in touch with us! Don't forget to subscribe to our youtube channel, like our facebook page, follow us on instagram, and we'll be very happy to continue sharing our current and future projects with you.

Thank you once again, and all our very best wishes,
Inês and Claudio

“Vesuvius was on our left all the time, emitting copious clouds of smoke and my heart rejoiced at seeing this remarkable phenomenon with my own eyes at last. The sky grew steadily clearer and, finally, the sun beat down on our cramped and jogging quarters. By the time we reached the outskirts of Naples the sky was completely cloudless, and now we are really in another country. The houses with their flat roofs indicate another climate [...] Everybody is out in the streets and sitting in the sun as long as it is willing to shine. The Neapolitan firmly believes that he lives in Paradise […] We spent today in ecstasies over the most astonishing sights. One may write or paint as much as one likes, but this place, the shore, the gulf, Vesuvius, the citadels, the villas, everything, defies description. […] Now I can forgive anyone for going off his head about Naples, and think with great affection of my father, who received such lasting impressions from the very same objects as I saw today. They say that someone who has once seen a ghost will never be happy again; vice versa, one might say of my father that he could never be really unhappy because his thoughts could always return to Naples. […] I won't say another word about the beauties of the city and its situation, which have been described and praised so often. As they say here, 'Vedi Napoli e poi muori! – See Naples and die!' One can't blame the Neapolitan for never wanting to leave his city, nor its poets for singing the praises of its situation in lofty hyperboles: it would still be wonderful even if a few more Vesuviuses were to rise in the neighbourhood. I don't want even to think about Rome. By comparison with Naples's free and open situation, the capital of the world [Rome] on the Tiber flats is like an old wretchedly placed monastery. […] We have spent the second Sunday in Lent wandering from one church to another. What is treated in Rome with the utmost solemnity is treated here with a lighthearted gaiety. The Neapolitan school of painting, too, can only be properly understood in Naples. […] I can't begin to tell you of the glory of a night by full moon when we strolled through the streets and squares to the endless promenade of the Chiaia, and then walked up and down the seashore. I was quite overwhelmed by a feeling of infinite space. To be able to dream like this is certainly worth the trouble it took to get here. […] Every time I wish to write words, visual images come up, images of the fruitful countryside, the open sea, the islands veiled in a haze, the smoking mountain, etc., and I lack the mental organ which could describe them.” [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Italian Journey (1786–1788), trans. Wystan Hugh Auden and Elizabeth Mayer (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1982). pp. 184-190.]

Can you envision the setting of our next non-concert, "Drama"? On our website this Friday from 18:00!

Our campaign will end on September 11. Help us reach our goal before then, by sharing this campaign with friends!! Thank you for your support!

Today's update is a musical one, a sneak preview of this week's non-concert #Embroideries: Corelli's Adagio from the Sonata op. 4 no. 5. Check out the whole 'non-concert' and discover the world of Baroque ornaments (not only musical ones!) this Friday from 18.00 (CET) on www.avenaribeiro.com/pasunconcert!

We are very grateful for all your support and the meaningful words of encouragement we've been receiving! Don't forget to keep sharing our campaign link!

Several elements of our musical practice have direct parallels in other arts of the same period. Ornamentation is one such element.

In the music we play, ornamentation is omnipresent, either explicitly indicated by the composer (such as is often the case in, for instance, Bach and much 18th-century French music), or implied by the performance practice of the period, which we infer from treatises, contemporary descriptions etc.

When not explicitly notated, nowadays we often tend to view ornamentation as an optional layer to be added to the fabric of the piece we play - a few ornaments should be added if the fabric is simple, and otherwise left out if the fabric is already rich enough. In many cases, and perhaps most cases, ornaments could actually be viewed as a key element, one which brings out the design features of a piece, highlights the beauty of the structure. It is not because ornaments need the structure around/behind it to 'hang on to', that they should be regarded in any way as less important, or less essential to the piece. In most cases, leaving out the ornaments compromises the exuberance of the whole, playing down other structural elements such as rhythm and harmony.

An interesting parallel can be drawn with the intricate art of embroidery, so much in vogue in the fashion of the wealthy European elite during the Baroque period. Here is one such example: a detail of a waistcoat front panel from c. 1760, with metal thread embroidery and sequins, applied to this beautiful blue silk:

We hope you enjoyed exploring the first puzzle of our series of non-concerts! Keep an eye on www.avenaribeiro/pasunconcert this coming Friday at 18:00 CET for the second one!

Tomorrow (August 7) is the premiere of our first 'non-concert' and we can't wait to share this first puzzle with all of you!

After countless hours, the website is up and running, and you can already preview it now: www.avenaribeiro.com. See you there, tomorrow from 18:00 CET!

[to view this photo in 360°, visit our facebook page: www.facebook.com/avenaribeiro]

Thank you for all your support and please continue to share our campaign!

How wonderful it is to have your support! Please keep sharing our campaign!!

One of the fun characteristics of our work in early music is all the decision making that is necessary to be able to play what we play. With time, many of these decisions become second nature, and we (can) become unaware of the choices we make, or even end up repeating what we once did or heard or saw - which can ultimately become a trap!

Exhibit number 1: the title page of Diogenio Bigaglia's set of XII sonatas (which were published in Amsterdam in the 1720's) tells us that they are meant for "Violino Solo o Sia Flauto", violin or 'flauto'. 'Flauto' in this case means the recorder and, in 99.9% of cases, 'flauto' means an alto recorder. Because of their range, which often goes below the lowest note on the alto recorder (F), for many decades recorder players have played Bigaglia's sonatas on the soprano recorder (in C). In principle there is nothing wrong with that - soprano recorders obviously existed then. But, they were usually referred to as 'flautino', a small 'flauto'. So what instrument could Bigaglia actually have had in mind?

During Inês' PhD research she studied Italian Baroque recorders in several museums, and had a few of those original instruments copied. One such instrument was a voice flute, a slightly larger and lower alto in D, made by N. Castel. Castel figures as one of the woodwind makers active in the city of Venice in the first half of the 18th century.

During our 2018 residency in Venice we decided to try our options in a mini experiment. Here is a homemade recording of one of Bigaglia's most famous sonata, played on two copies of 18th-century Venetian recorders: a soprano by D. Perosa and a voice flute by N. Castel:

Oh, we hadn't mentioned yet that Bigaglia was a Benedictine monk, violinist and composer, active in Venice between c. 1676 - c. 1745. This means that at the time Bigaglia was active and writing these sonatas voice flutes were around in Venice. What a coincidence, Robin!

Curious to hear the result of our decisions regarding this experiment? Here's another Bigaglia sonata, from our CD Anonimo Venexian: https://youtu.be/MSNSVHitk30. We hope you enjoy!

Thank you very much for your support donating and sharing our campaign!

Making music needs a lot of energy! And musicians love to feed on inspiring foods, from inspiring places, with inspiring ingredients.

Naples. Fantastic natural beauty and produce, an enchanting language and an amazing history (particularly in music it could not be different: mythology tells us it was founded by the siren Parthenope, who brought her magical singing to the city; in the 18th century the city became the 'world capital of music', bursting with talented young musicians in its four conservatories, and inspiring music education and music making throughout Europe and beyond).

Pizza. Simple but outstanding ingredients, and on it went to conquer the world (although often losing a few key rules though). Here is a great recipe to make this 'masterpiece' at home, using your conventional oven (better with a pizza stone), by the pizza-chef Davide Civitiello:

(invite the whole family for a feast or use about 1/5 of this for 2 pizzas)
1l water
1,6kg 00 flour
50g salt
20g sugar (optional)
50g olive oil
2g yeast (Claudio has been using about 225g of "lievito madre", the Italian sourdough)

The 'official' topping is Margherita (freshly squeezed ripe tomatoes, basil, fior di latte or mozzarella di bufala, and good olive oil), but you can find some inspiration for other pizzas on the menu of our favorite Neapolitan pizzeria.

Follow the instructions on this video and enjoy it!

P.S.: we would love to see a picture of your pizza!

Thank you to all who have donated already!
Don't forget to share our campaign with friends, family, neighbors!

We feel very privileged that our home for the 'Ceci n'est pas un concert series' will be the Hofwijck, the country estate of Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687), Dutch diplomat, scholar, scientist, amateur musician and composer, poet, and art connoisseur.

In August 1644, Huygens received a letter from Jacob van Eyck (1589/90-1657), carillon player, organist, recorder virtuoso, and composer, accompanying a copy of Van Eyck's Euterpe oft Speel-goddinne, which had just been published.

Huygens and Van Eyck were actually second cousins, and in his letter, Van Eyck asked Huygens to review his Euterpe, in view of a reprint which came in the revised edition renamed Der Fluyten Lust-hof, which was dedicated to Huygens.

This collection is famous nowadays among recorder players, but the Psalms which make up a considerable part of the collection are more seldom heard. These Psalms from the Genevan Psalter were sung in church and sounded from Dutch carillons of the time, so their melodies were very well-known. In our second non-concert, among other things, you'll hear a Psalm, wonderfully contemplative in character, with diminutions by Van Eyck.

As you see, our non-concerts will be made up of not only wonderful music, but also of a world of other inspiring things, many directly related to the music, as what you just read, but also several seemingly unrelated but still relevant to us. Did you spot some of these nonsense references in our campaign video?;)