Artistic director Johannes Pramsohler discusses the programme of the new Ensemble Diderot album and explores the importance of an educational element in programming baroque music for today's audience Putting together a programme of baroque works - whether they are concertos or chamber music - is always a tricky undertaking when one doesn't want to focus on just one composer or a very specific theme. What overall mood should the concert have? How can I establish a memorable se

In 1708, Rome saw the lavish production of Handel's oratorio La Resurrezione. The impressive orchestra of 47 musicians was led by the famous Arcangelo Corelli. But who was the violinist sitting next to him? On 8 January 1713 Arcangelo Corelli died. With his passing the community of string players in Rome lost not only its most internationally famous violinist and composer but also its recognized capo: the person with the twofold task of directing major orchestral performances

History often bears surprising facts. It might seem astonishing to us today, but the most performed passion of the 18th century was neither Bach’s St Matthew nor his St John Passion, but Der Tod Jesu by Carl Heinrich Graun. And the initiative behind this important work came from a woman: Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia commissioned a text from the German poet Karl Wilhelm Ramler, which she set to music herself. Her teacher held the work in such high esteem that he published p